A hybrid intervention for challenging the stigma of mental illness

• Author: A. Coman/C. Sas
• Position: Transilvania University of Brasov/Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK
• Pages: 73-80

Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov

Series VII: Social Sciences • Law • Vol. 9 (58) No. 2 - 2016

A HYBRID INTERVENTION FOR

CHALLENGING THE STIGMA

OF MENTAL ILLNESS

A. COMAN1 C. SAS2

Abstract: The stigma of mental illness has significant negative impact on

people experiencing it, to an extent that it may lead to the avoidance of

mental health services. Various strategies have been developed to change

people’s negative and ill-founded attitudes towards the mental illness. This

paper presents a novel strategy which builds innovatively on a robust model

of attitude, while supporting both educational aims and access to the

emotional world of people experiencing mental illness.

Key words: mental health, stigma, strategies for changing stigma.

1. Introduction

With the increasing number of people suffering from mental illness, its stigma is a

seriously disconcerting problem adding unfair burden to people already cha llenged by such

illness. A wealth of research has explored the causes of this stigma and how it can be

addressed by changing people’s attitude towards ment al health in general and sufferers of

mental illness in particular. Such strategies ta rget protest, education, and direct contact with

people experiencing mental illness, and their impa ct has been explored among the large

public and medical professionals, the two groups identified as key in endorsing the stigma.

We know however little about the potential of addressing this stigma among other

groups of endorsers such as mass media workers. While findings indicate the

effectiveness of some of the strategies addressing stigma, they also suggest specific

limitations.

In this paper we describe the design of a novel intervention, operationalizing the

tripartite model of attitude (Rosenberg and Hovland, 1960) to address holistically all three

attitudinal components: the cognitive, affective and behavioural dimensions of mental

illness stigma. The proposed intervention aims to help people develop a more holistic

representation of people experiencing mental illness as complex individuals rather than

merely ill ones. As a hybrid intervention, it integrates the most successful strategies for

challenging stigmas; educational one for challenging cognitions, and behaviours, as well

as direct access to the inner world of people experiencing mental illness to challenge

participants’ emotions and values. This paper outlines the design rationale of the

proposed intervention, and its iterative refinement through two workshops with

journalists and members of two Romanian NGOs focusing on mental health and stigma of

mental illness.

1 Transilvania University of Braşov, alina.coman@unitbv.ro.

2 Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK, c.sas@lancaster.ac.uk.