Using group-based interaction to change stereotypes about people with mental disorders

Abstract

A large body of research has examined intervention methods designed to improve attitudes towards people with mental disorders, in particular education, contact and protest. After a short review of these interventions, this paper provides a brief introduction to a new intervention that involves group-based discussion to strengthen commitment to the aims of the mental health advocacy movement. Research to date demonstrates it produces significant and lasting positive change in attitudes and willingness to participate in future action to promote the aims. Ongoing research examines the required conditions for the intervention and explores its potential to develop a cooperative community in which more members of the community, professionals and people with mental disorders work together to achieve common goals in reducing stigma.

Aspirations for a cooperative community and support for mental health advocacy: a shared orientation through opinion‐based group membership

“…The findings suggest that aspirations for a cooperative community reflect an orientation toward change that is strongly related to a relevant opinion‐based group identity, and thus expand on the arguments originally made by Gee et al. ().…”

“…The scale was developed for the present study based on the arguments of Gee et al. (). Participants received the following instructions: “Currently in Australian society, people with mental disorders are often marginalized and excluded.…”

“…Analogous to the aspirations for racial equality and harmony in Dr. King's speech—but in a very different context with very different issues—Gee et al. () argued that supporters of mental health advocacy share aspirations for the development of a cooperative community, which specifies that cooperation between people with mental disorders, community members (and their government representatives), and health providers is a desirable and ultimately effective approach to produce desired positive change.…”

“…We develop the arguments of Gee et al. () and propose that these aspirations for a cooperative community can be conceptualized as a shared ideology among supporters of mental health advocacy. Ideologies reflect moral convictions that are strong drivers for collective action because they “describe what one ‘ought’ to do” (Wright, , p. 869).…”

Group interaction as the crucible of social identity formation: A glimpse at the foundations of social identities for collective action

“…That is, targeted small group discussion provides a site where people can negotiate and validate a position about 'how we want the world to be' (Gee, Khalaf, & McGarty, 2007;). Intensifying opinion-based group memberships specifically (rather than other broader social identities that can be contested; Sani & Reicher, 2000) seems particularly important since these identities can be implicitly aspirational or future-oriented (Rabinovich, Morton & Postmes, 2010); they are geared towards establishing (or preventing) a particular state of affairs (see Smith, Thomas & McGarty, in press).…”