Professional preference for mental illness: The role of contact, empathy, and stigma in Spanish Social Work undergraduates

Fernández, Ana Belén Méndez; Posada, Xoán Lombardero; Fernández, Francisco Xabier Aguiar; Alvarez, Evelia; Fernández, Antonio González

doi:10.1111/hsc.13479

Cited by 7 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 90 publications

(162 reference statements)

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“…When looking at the various stigma subscales side by side, our research only demonstrates that psychiatric trainees are stigmatized less when it comes to societal duty compared to other groups. Previous research has demonstrated that a stigma attached to social duty has a detrimental impact on empathy [ 17 ]. An integrated relationship model has been proposed: physicians who have more experience, more excellent patient-to-physician contact, and more empathy toward patients with mental disorders feel less uneasy around those patients, and as a result, they tend to reduce the social distance that separates them from those patients [ 18 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attitude of Syrian medical specialty trainees toward providing health care services to patients with mental disorders

Alibrahim,

Bohsas,

Swed

et al. 2023

Arch Public Health

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Background The stigma associated with mental diseases in the healthcare system and among healthcare professionals has been identified as a significant barrier to treatment and rehabilitation and to the provision of substandard physical care for persons with mental illnesses. The goal of this study is to assess the attitude of physicians in Syria towards individuals with mental health disorders. Methods An online cross-sectional survey was conducted among phyisicians in Syria to evaluate their attitudes toward patients with mental health disorders and their provided treatment in the time period between August 16 and October 1, 2022. The questionnaire for the study was developed based on previous research, and the inclusion criteria for the sample were all medical specialist trainees from all specialties and residents who had direct contact with people suffering from mental health disorders. The questionnaire was divided into two sections; the first included sociodemographic data on the participants and the second assessed physician’s attitudes toward mental illness patients. With the IBM SPSS V. 28.0 package tool (IBM Corporation, Armonk, NY, USA), descriptive and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to analyze the data. Results 539 medical residents participated in this research; their average age was 26.11 (+- 1.74) years, and 50.27% were males. City residents had the highest stigma score on the third question (2.66 ± 1.06, P value < 0.05) in the ‘social distance’ domain. The mean stigma scores for these three items in the recovery area were (2.76 ± 1.15, 2.51 ± 0.92, and 3.73 ± 0.83), respectively, for city residents. In the ‘social distance’ domain, the stigma score of two questions (the first and fourth questions) was associated with the resident’s specialty, with dermatology residents having the highest mean score in both questions (mean = 3.6 ± 1.12, 3.43 ± 1.19, respectively). Only the second item in the ‘Detection’ domain was scored higher (mean = 3.850.81) by surgery residents than other residents. The stigma in the ‘Recovery’ domain was greatest among dermatology residents (mean = 3.710.94) than among other residents. There was a statistically significant relationship between residency and the Detection stigma scale (p = 0.03, Adj R2 = 0.008). There was a moderate correlation (Adj R2 = 0.048) between the Recovery scale and three of the six predictors (location, marital status, and the number of years living in the current residence). Two demographic factors (country of residence and marital status) were significantly correlated (p0.05) with the Social Responsibility Scale, and the Adjusted R-Squared Value was 0.006. Conclusion Our findings indicate substantial stigma among resident physicians who treat patients with mental illnesses, which might negatively impact both the efficacy of therapy and the phyisician’s mental health. It is important to educate medical residents on mental health issues so that they can treat their patients appropriately. It is suggested that mental health concerns be included in the curriculum of residency programs for physicians so that they have adequate perspectives and attitudes about treating these patients.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attitude of Syrian medical specialty trainees toward providing health care services to patients with mental disorders

Alibrahim,

Bohsas,

Swed

et al. 2023

Arch Public Health

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“…Previous studies have shown that stigma toward social responsibility negatively affects empathy ( 20 ). An integrated relationship model has been proposed: physicians with a better experience, more excellent patient-to-physician contact, and more empathy toward them feel less uneasy with patients with mental disorders; thus, they tend to reduce their social distance from them ( 33 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attitude of Iranian medical specialty trainees toward providing health care services to patients with mental disorders

Movahedi

Shariat²,

Shalbafan³

2022

Front. Psychiatry

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IntroductionThe stigma of mental illness has a negative impact on the diagnosis and treatment of these disorders. Considering the high prevalence of mental illness, the attitude of medical specialists toward mental disorders, who are front liners in diagnosing and treating these patients, is critical. Therefore, we examined the attitude of Iranian medical specialty trainees toward providing health care services for patients with mental illness.MethodsWe included 143 residents in the fields that have the most interactions with patients with mental disorders, including internal medicine, surgery, neurology, cardiovascular diseases, and psychiatry. A demographic checklist, as well as the opening minds scale for health care providers stigma assessment questionnaire, was provided, which measures five dimensions of improvement, social responsibility, social distance, exposure, and other (such as risk) in health care providers toward delivering the healthcare services to patients with mental disorders.ResultsThe mean score of stigma for mental illness in medical specialty trainees was 61.36 ± 4.83 out of 100. Psychiatric residents have the least stigmatizing attitude (58.38 ± 3.54), and internal medicine and cardiology residents have the highest score, respectively, (62.96 ± 6.05, 62.45 ± 3.80). As for comparing subscales between specialties, only the social responsibility subscale showed a significant difference, with psychiatry having less stigma toward social responsibility (12.93 ± 2.01) than cardiology (15.09 ± 1.50) trainees.ConclusionThe attitude of medical specialty trainees toward providing health care services for patients with mental illness is not uniform; internal medicine and cardiology residents have more stigmatizing attitude, while psychiatric residents have less stigmatizing attitude. It seems that not every contact could be useful in making a better attitude toward mental illness, but it needs preconditions, like a structured contact that leads to positive outcomes. Anti-stigma interventions are needed to improve the attitude of medical specialty trainees toward providing health care services to patients with mental illness.

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“…When measured separately, research found that quality and quantity contact contribute differentially to describing attitudes, social distance, and intergroup anxiety (e.g., Voci and Hewstone, 2003 ; Vezzali and Capozza, 2011 ; Méndez Fernández et al, 2022 ). For example, quantity may be better related with implicit attitudes while quality is more strongly related to explicit attitudes (e.g., Tam et al, 2006 ; Prestwich et al, 2008 ; Kanamori et al, 2022 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attitudes towards women in the military and their relation to both quantity and quality contact with female leaders

Nicol,

Mayrand Nicol

2024

Front. Psychol.

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Contact experiences with women in senior leadership roles are important for creating acceptance of women in organizations dominated by men, such as the military, as leadership roles are considered demanding, requiring numerous agentic qualities that are often ascribed to men. The military lacks women in leadership levels within its organization. We wished to determine whether quality and quantity contact with women in leadership positions reduces intergroup anxiety, increases empathy and perspective-taking, and subsequently creates more favorable attitudes toward women in the military. This was examined in three studies, one with a military sample consisting of men (n = 95), another with a civilian sample of men (n = 367), and a third study with a civilian sample of women (n = 374). Our findings revealed that quality contact was related to attitudes toward women in the military for all three samples. Results from the indirect effects tests conducted for the civilian male and female samples revealed that for civilian men, intergroup anxiety demonstrated a significant indirect effect between quantity contact and attitudes toward women in the military, while both intergroup anxiety and perspective-taking demonstrated significant indirect effects between quality contact and attitudes toward women in the military. Furthermore, both quantity and quality contact demonstrated significant direct effects. On the other hand, results revealed that for civilian women the only significant relation was the direct effect between quality contact and attitudes toward women in the military. Intergroup anxiety, perspective-taking, and empathy did not demonstrate any indirect effects for the civilian women sample. Thus, given that interactions with women in leadership positions are related to views of women in the military, research should further explore the role of contact for women in non-traditional work roles.

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Professional preference for mental illness: The role of contact, empathy, and stigma in Spanish Social Work undergraduates

Cited by 7 publications

References 90 publications

Attitude of Syrian medical specialty trainees toward providing health care services to patients with mental disorders

Attitude of Syrian medical specialty trainees toward providing health care services to patients with mental disorders

Attitude of Iranian medical specialty trainees toward providing health care services to patients with mental disorders

Attitudes towards women in the military and their relation to both quantity and quality contact with female leaders

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