Interpersonal contact and the stigma of mental illness: A review of the literature

Couture, Shannon M.; Penn, David L.

doi:10.1080/09638231000118276

Cited by 446 publications

(396 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…The positive impact of training for mental health professionals has been previously described in literature (Couture & Penn, 2003;Nordt et al, 2006). However, there is also evidence that at least some aspects of mental health professionals' attitudes are more negative than those of the general public, e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Exploring experiences of and attitudes towards mental illness and disclosure amongst health care professionals: a qualitative study

Waugh

Lethem

Sherring

et al. 2017

Journal of Mental Health

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Background: The literature suggests that many health professionals hold stigmatising attitudes towards those with mental illness and that this impacts on patient care. Little attention has been given to how these attitudes affect colleagues with a mental illness. Current research demonstrates that stigma and discrimination are common in the UK workplace and impact on one's decision to disclose mental illness. Aims: This study aims to explore health professionals' experiences of and attitudes towards mental illness and disclosure in the workplace. Methods: This qualitative study involved semi-structured interviews with 24 health professionals employed by an NHS (National Health Service) trust. 13 of these worked in mental health, and 11 in other health fields. Interviews were transcribed and thematic analysis was used to identify themes. Results: Five key themes were identified from the data: personal experiences and their effect in changing attitudes; perceived stigmatising views of mental illness in other staff members; hypothetical disclosure: factors affecting one's decision; attitudes towards disclosure; support in the workplace after disclosure; and, applying only to those working outside of the mental health field, mental illness is not talked about. The results indicated that participants had a great deal of experience with colleagues with a mental illness and that support in the workplace for such illnesses is variable. Attitudes of participating health professionals towards colleagues with a mental illness appeared to be positive, however, they did report that other colleagues held negative attitudes. Deciding to disclose a mental illness was a carefully thought out decision with a number of advantages and disadvantages noted. In particular, it was found that health professionals' fear stigma and discrimination from colleagues and that this would dissuade participants from disclosing a mental illness. Conclusion: In many respects, this research supports the findings in other workplaces. Such findings need to be investigated further to identify the degree to which these experiences and attitudes can be applied to other health professionals in other healthcare settings to determine what intervention is necessary. Importantly, this study has also indicated that the level of support available to NHS health professionals with a mental illness is variable, suggesting the need to identify and replicate positive practice.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Exploring experiences of and attitudes towards mental illness and disclosure amongst health care professionals: a qualitative study

Waugh

Lethem

Sherring

et al. 2017

Journal of Mental Health

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“…Previous studies have found that people with greater familiarity with mental disorders have lessstigmatizing attitudes. 27,28 In a previous study, mental health professionals had more positive attitudes towards medical students with mental disorders than health professionals not specialized in mental health. 26 Paradoxically, in our study, students with personal or family experience of a mental disorder and those who had visited a mental health institution were more likely to agree or strongly agree that mental disorders were grounds for dismissal from pharmacy school.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nepalese Pharmacy Students' Perceptions Regarding Mental Disorders and Pharmacy Education

Panthee¹,

Panthee

Shakya

et al. 2010

American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education

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“…Exposure to these stigmatized groups greatly reduces the negative interactions from in-group members (Corrigan, Morris, Michaels, Rafacz, & Rusch, 2012;Couture & Penn, 2003). Trust can be established and stigma between in-groups and out-groups eliminated when contact is increased or someone with a mental illness becomes part of an in-group (Bornstein, 1989;Harmon-Jones & Allen, 2001;Lee, 2001;Zajonc, 1968;Bizub & Davidson, 2011).…”

Section: Stigma Erroneous Beliefs and Social Distancingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Which Emotion(s) Mediate the Relationship Between Mental Illness and Trust?

Rice¹,

Kraemer²,

Mehta³

2015

ISS

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Previous literature has shown that the stigma of mental illness can have serious negative effects on trust ratings in the person suffering from the illness. Furthermore, prior studies have shown that general affect (emotions) mediate the relationship between mental illness stigma and trust; that is, people trust those with mental illness less because they feel more negatively towards them. The current study expands on these findings by analyzing specifically which emotions mediate this relationship, and how strong that mediation effect is. We used Ekman and Friesen's (1971) six universal facial expressions of emotions to test this missing gap in the literature. In two studies, participants were presented with a target individual who had severe and chronic depression (versus a control group) and asked to provide ratings of affect and trust in the target individuals. In Study 1, we replicated a previous finding that general affect mediates the relationship between mental illness and trust. In Study 2, we found that of the six universal emotions, only Happiness had a significant ISSN 2329-521X 2015 www.macrothink.org/iss 133 mediating effect on the relationship between mental illness and trust. We discuss the theoretical, practical and methodological implications of this data. Issues in Social Science

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Interpersonal contact and the stigma of mental illness: A review of the literature

Abstract: Title: Interpersonal contact and the stigma of mental illness: A review of the literature

Cited by 446 publications

References 42 publications

Exploring experiences of and attitudes towards mental illness and disclosure amongst health care professionals: a qualitative study

Exploring experiences of and attitudes towards mental illness and disclosure amongst health care professionals: a qualitative study

Nepalese Pharmacy Students' Perceptions Regarding Mental Disorders and Pharmacy Education

Which Emotion(s) Mediate the Relationship Between Mental Illness and Trust?

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