Attitudes and intended behaviour to mental disorders and associated factors in catalan population, Spain: cross-sectional population-based survey

Abstract

BackgroundMental disorders have a huge impact on the European population. Two of the main causes of this impact are stigma and discrimination. The aim of this paper is to assess the stigma regarding mental disorder in Catalonia and to explore factors associated with stigma.MethodsCross-sectional population-based survey of a representative sample of non-institutionalized adult population (n = 1872). We evaluated attitudes (CAMI: Authoritarianism, Benevolence and Support to Community Mental Health care) and intended behaviour (RIBS) regarding mental disorder and experience of discrimination. Higher scores showed more favourable attitudes and intended behavior. Mean values and percentiles of the scales were calculated. Multivariable regression models were used to assess factors associated with stigma.ResultsMean authoritarianism, benevolence and support to community mental health scores corresponded to the 66th, 90th and 78th percentile, respectively. Mean RIBS score corresponded to the 76th percentile. More favourable attitudes were associated with being male, younger, having a higher education, being Spanish, having suffered a mental disorder and having contact with a person with a mental disorder.Similarly, more favourable intended behaviour was associated with being younger, having secondary education, having Spanish nationality, belonging to a higher social class and having contact with a person with a mental disorder. People with depression or anxiety showed lower discrimination experiences than people with other mental disorders.ConclusionsThe levels of stigma were generally low among the Catalan population. However, efforts should be made to decrease stigma related to authoritarianism. Interventions addressed to reducing stigma should take into account other mental disorders apart from depression or anxiety. They should be focused on older, immigrant population, people with lower educational attainment and people who have not had contact with someone with a mental disorder.

Initial medication non‐adherence: prevalence and predictive factors in a cohort of 1.6 million primary care patients

“…The effect of mental disorders on IMNA varies according to nationality, with higher rates in Asians and Africans with mental disorders. This could be explained by higher social stigma regarding mental disorders in the Asian and African immigrant populations . The increase in likelihood of IMNA in patients with pain disorders might be related to the ‘medicine‐cabinet effect’ and the fact that medication taken for mild symptomatic pathologies, which reduce symptoms without acting on the origin of the disease, may have a low benefit–risk ratio.…”

Prevention of the Stigma of Mental Disorders in the Community

“…Attitudes towards people with mental disorders are varied (Aznar-Lou et al, 2016). People tend to hesitate to express their mental disorder to their family and friends because they are worried whether their family and friends will understand and accept the situation.…”

“…Emotional reactions that are stronger predict discrimination rather than stereotypes. There are several ways to fight authoritarianism such as contact-based education or education to increase knowledge, attitudes, mental health literacy and to reduce stereotypes, in addition to the desire for interpersonal distance (Aznar-Lou et al, 2016). Social contact is considered to be the most effective intervention used as a part of anti-stigma campaigns (Maulik et al, 2019).…”

“…In this study, the community was divided into 2 types, namely people who have direct contact with an MD (family, friends, health worker) and people who are not directly related to an MD (knowing of MDs through lessons or the news). One study showed that relating to someone with MD is associated with a better attitude and behavior (Aznar-Lou et al, 2016). The criterion for the participants was also based on education being divided into two, namely the participants with low education (zero to secondary education) and the participants with higher education (postsecondary education).…”

“…Recent research more often investigates the level of stigma and discrimination using direct reports from the users of mental health services where the results of these studies show a high level of stigma and discrimination, regardless of the type of diagnosis (Corker et al, 2015). Public stigma is still high despite efforts to improve public knowledge and attitudes and to reduce discrimination (Aznar-Lou, Serrano-Blanco, Fernández, Luciano, & Rubio-Valera, 2016). Several recent studies on reducing stigma have found that most programs aim to increase awareness of the mental disorder and to improve mental health literacy.…”