Journal
AUSTRALASIAN PSYCHIATRY
Volume 29, Issue 3, Pages 357-360Publisher
SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD
DOI: 10.1177/1039856220971935
Keywords
stigma; discrimination; contact-based teaching; medical students; mental distress
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Funding
- Health Promotion Agency [6192]
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The study assessed and compared medical students' attitudes towards two anti-stigma education programmes, with the more intensive programme showing greater improvements in reducing stigma. Therefore, medical students require long-term and repeated contact-based anti-stigma education.
Objective: To assess and compare attitudes of medical students in response to two service-user-led anti-stigma and discrimination education programmes. Method: Two programmes, consistent with the key elements of effective contact-based anti-stigma and discrimination education programmes for healthcare providers, were delivered to medical students in their penultimate and final year: a more intensive version of the programme in 2015/2016 and a briefer programme in 2016/2017. Attitudes were assessed using the Recovery Attitudes Questionnaire (RAQ) and the Opening Minds Stigma Scale for Health Care Providers (OMS-HC-20) at the beginning and end of their final year. Results: There were no significant differences between the years in initial scores on either scale. Both cohorts showed statistically significant reductions in scores on both scales after completion of the programme, indicating overall improvements in students' attitudes with reductions in stigma, and more positive attitudes towards recovery of those in mental distress. The more intensive programme led to significantly greater improvement in reductions in stigma than the less intensive programme. Conclusion: Findings support the need for contact-based anti-stigma and discrimination education programmes for medical students that are both intensive and repeated over time.
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