Effectiveness of contact-based education for reducing mental illness-related stigma in pharmacy students

Abstract

BackgroundA strategy for reducing mental illness-related stigma in health-profession students is to include contact-based sessions in their educational curricula. In such sessions students are able to interact socially with a person that has a mental illness. We sought to evaluate the effectiveness of this strategy in a multi-centre study of pharmacy students.MethodsThe study was a randomized controlled trial conducted at three sites. Because it was necessary that all students receive the contact-based sessions, the students were randomized either to an early or late intervention, with the late intervention group not having participated in the contact-based education at the time when the primary outcome was assessed. The primary outcome, stigma, was assessed using an attitudes scale called the Opening Minds Survey for Health Care Providers (OMS-HC).ResultsWe initially confirmed that outcomes were homogeneous across study centres, centre by group interaction, p = 0.76. The results were pooled across the three study centres. A significant reduction in stigma was observed in association with the contact-based sessions (mean change 4.3 versus 1.5, t=2.1, p=0.04). The effect size (Cohen’s d) was 0.45. A similar reduction was seen in the control group when they later received the intervention.ConclusionsContact-based education is an effective method of reducing stigma during pharmacy education. These results add to a growing literature confirming the effectiveness of contact-based strategies for stigma reduction in health profession trainees.

Stigma of mental illness: A study in the Indian Armed Forces

“…25 Energetic efforts are being carried out, in other nations, to reduce stigma in an effort to identify and treat mental health problems at the earliest. 26 It is probably time, the Armed Forces of this country also take suitable measures on a war footing, to reduce stigma among the mentally ill and their caregivers.…”

Impact of a Mental Illness Stigma Awareness Intervention on Pharmacy Student Attitudes and Knowledge

“…The addition of consumer educators to pharmacy training significantly improves pharmacy student attitudes towards mental illness above standardized pharmacy mental health training. 22,25,48 Nguyen et al compared a face-to-face consumer educator intervention with film based interventions and found that both interventions had an equally positive impact on key items relating to MHS. 46 The current study showed significant improvements in stigma perceptions without the use of consumer educators, but through role-playing, active-learning exercises, and patient videos.…”

Stigma in Canada: Results from a Rapid Response Survey

“…9 Contact-based education has become one of the most promising practices in the field of anti-stigma intervention 10 and one that is central to the OM approach to stigma reduction. 11,12 However, note that interpersonal contact is typically directed toward reducing public stigma, not personal experiences of stigma. Our findings indicate that the odds of being stigmatized are similar, whether or not one has had contact with people with a mental illness.…”