“They are Us—We are Them”

Abstract

Stigmatization towards persons with mental illnesses is a major quality of care concern. Unfortunately, nurses are no less implicated than other health professions. This article reports the results of an evaluation of a learning intervention for psychiatric nursing students in partnership between Brandon University and the Mental Health Commission of Canada. We describe this intervention as an example of transformational learning through nursing education leadership and suggest its use as a promising model for cultural change in healthcare practice. Leaders and managers are encouraged to explore how such a model may be adaptable or implementable for their own organizations and departments.

Association between attitudes of stigma toward mental illness and attitudes toward adoption of evidence-based practice within health care providers in Bahrain

“…There have also been several interventions studied that were developed to fight stigma among health care providers; however, three types are recommended. First is “intensive social contact,” which involves encouraging participants to engage with patients with mental illness to break the barriers between “us and them” [124]. Second, the “anti-stigma workshop” provides educational lectures to selected audiences [125].…”

Understanding Stigma: A Pooled Analysis of a National Program Aimed at Health Care Providers to Reduce Stigma towards Patients with a Mental Illness

“…27 The correlation between program outcomes and age may mean targeting health professionals when they are earlier in their careers could be an important consideration for maximizing program e cacy. 16 This will be an important area for future research.…”

“…[34][35][36][37] Programs using a more intensive contact-based approach (e.g. social contact sustained over several months of regularly scheduled interaction) see somewhat stronger results than those observed for Understanding Stigma, 16 but these kinds of interventions may not always practical in time-constrained health care environments and tend to be easier to implement in student populations. Particularly encouraging about the results of the Understanding Stigma program is that fi ndings represent multiple replications of the program in di erent settings with various audiences and program facilitators, as opposed to a single program implementation.…”

“…6,[12][13][14][15] Unfortunately, nurses are no less implicated than other health professionals. 12,16,17 A recent study measuring attitudes and behavioural intentions towards persons with a mental illness across various health care groups in Canada found that nurses, along with physicians, displayed the highest levels of stigma of all groups measured. 18 A 2009 review of mental illness-related stigma within the nursing profession found a number of problematic attitudes and beliefs towards patients with mental illnesses.…”

“…The considerable deleterious impacts of stigma have promoted increased calls to action for health care organizations to take leadership roles in tackling the problem. [4][5][6]8,16 Since 2009, Opening Minds (OM), the anti-stigma initiative of the Mental Health Commission of Canada, has conducted a large series of evaluations of anti-stigma programs targeting various health care provider audiences. 19,20 OM partnered with organizations conducting anti-stigma interventions for the purpose of evaluating program e ectiveness.…”