Healthcare curriculum influences on stigma towards mental illness: Core psychiatry course impact on pharmacy, nursing and social work student attitudes

Background and purpose: Attitudes towards disclosure of a psychiatric diagnosis and directed at persons with mental illness have represented negativity and stigma. The purpose of this study was to identify stigma towards mental illness among health profession students in pharmacy, nursing, and social work programs, and identify if primary psychiatric coursework in each curriculum has an impact on students' perceptions. Educational activity and setting: Pharmacy, nursing and social work students were surveyed pre- and post-primary didactic psychiatry coursework (pre-course = 154 total; 95 pharmacy, 47 nursing, 12 social work; post-course = 128 total; 79 pharmacy, 38 nursing, and 11 social work) using the Opening Minds Scale for Health Care Providers (OMS-HC). The OMS-HC contains 12-questions evaluated on a five-point Likert scale ranging from 12 to 60 points, with lower scores indicating less stigma towards mental illness. Student results were compared to the large sample of healthcare student and provider responses used in validating the OMS-HC survey tool. Findings: Students' pre- course mean score on the OMS-HC was 30.6 +/- 5.47 (pharmacy = 30.9, nursing = 31, social work = 26.3) and post-course mean score was 31.05 +/- 6.82 (pharmacy = 32.24, nursing = 29.89, social work = 26.55). These scores illustrate negative stigma among students and also are similar to existing research identifying a disparity among the healthcare professions. Coursework did not appear to improve stigma toward mental illness. Summary: The current education of healthcare providers does not appear to change students' stigma, suggesting educational gaps requiring attention.