Social distance in Lithuanian psychology and social work students and professionals

Abstract

Social distance from people with mental illness decreases through the study years; however, results of professional psychologists and social workers illustrate different trajectories in social distance through the professional career. The results of this study support the need for anti-stigma programmes and initiatives orientated towards mental health professionals.

Can stigmatizing attitudes be prevented in psychology students?

“…We can only hypothesize that the biopsychosocial model used in our case, in contrast to a more strictly biological-reductionist model, may have assisted students to become aware of negative stereotypes, attitudes, or behaviors. In addition, there is evidence (Pranckeviciene et al, 2018) that the desire for social distance between psychologists and patients increases with increasing years. It can be assumed that the young age of the students, their enthusiasm, and their desire to pursue a professional career in the context of mental health is an effective stimulus toward the reduction of stigmatizing attitudes.…”

“…In a recent work, Pranckeviciene and colleagues (Pranckeviciene et al, 2018) found that stigma among healthcare professionals may be a barrier to the success of the therapeuticrehabilitative path for patients and a source of burnout for the professionals themselves.…”

“…It has also been shown how this stigma can be passed on from health professionals acting as instructors to their students in degree programs or in health training courses (Brown et al, 2015;Pranckeviciene et al, 2018).…”

“…The same study showed that being close to a person with a psychiatric disorder is a predictor of reduced social distance. Pranckeviciene et al (2018) reported that social distance is also influenced by year of study of the student. In that study, master's and doctoral students exhibited significantly lower social distance than bachelor's students.…”

Individual-level socioeconomic status and contact or familiarity with people with mental illness: a cross-sectional study in Wuhou District, Chengdu, Southwest China

“…A growing body of literature has reported an association between stigma and sociodemographic attributes such as gender, age, marital status, education level and income [15][16][17]; religious devotion [18,19]; knowledge about mental illness [20,21]; and contact, familiarity or personal acquaintance with PWMI [22][23][24]. A few studies have explored the relationship between individual-level socioeconomic status (SES) and stigma in the context of people with HIV or suicidal behaviour [25,26].…”