Establishing partnerships with people with lived experience of mental illness for stigma reduction in low- and middle-income settings

Abstract

Social contact refers to the facilitation of connection and interactions between people with and without mental health conditions. It can be achieved, for example, through people sharing their lived experience of mental health conditions, which is an effective strategy for stigma reduction.Meaningful involvement of people with lived experience (PWLE) in leading and co-leading antistigma interventions can/may promote autonomy and resilience. Our paper aimed to explore how PWLE have been involved in research and anti-stigma interventions, to improve effective means of involving PWLE in stigma reduction activities in LMICs. A qualitative collective case study design was adopted. Case studies from four LMICs (China, Ethiopia, India and Nepal) are summarized, briefly reflecting on background for the work, alongside anticipated and experienced challenges, strategies to overcome these, and recommendations for future work. We found that the involvement of PWLEs in stigma reduction is commonly a new concept in LMIC. Experienced and anticipated challenges were similar, such as identifying suitable persons to engage in the work