Stigmatization of ‘psychiatric label’ by medical and non-medical students

• Published in: International journal of social psychiatry Vol. 58; no. 5; pp. 455 - 462
• Main Authors: Totic, Sanja, Stojiljković, Dragan, Pavlovic, Zorana, Zaric, Nenad, Zarkovic, Boris, Malic, Ljubica, Mihaljevic, Marina, Jašović-Gašić, Miroslava, Marić, Nadja P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01-09-2012; Sage Publications Ltd
• Subjects: Adult; Attitudes; Clinical psychology; College students; Educational psychology; Educational research; Female; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Humans; Intervention; Lawyers - education; Lawyers - psychology; Male; Medical personnel; Medical students; Mental Disorders - psychology; Mentally ill people; Patients; Patients - psychology; Psychiatrists; Psychiatry - education; Rotation; Self Concept; Self esteem; Self Report; Selfesteem; Serbia; Social distance; Social psychiatry; Sociodemographic data; Stereotyping; Stigma; Stigmatization; Students, Medical - psychology; Young Adult; Serbia; stigma; discrimination; psychiatry; medical education; medical students
• DOI: 10.1177/0020764011408542
• EISSN: 1741-2854
• ISSN: 0020-7640

Backround:
Stigmatization of psychiatric patients is present both in the general population and among healthcare professionals.
Aim:
To determine the attitudes and behaviour of medical students towards a person who goes to a psychiatrist, before and after psychiatric rotation, and to compare those attitudes between medical and non-medical students.
Methods:
The study included 525 medical students (second and sixth year of studies) and 154 students of law. The study instrument was a three-part self-reported questionnaire (socio-demographic data, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and a vignette depicting a young, mentally healthy person). The experimental intervention consisted of ascribing a ‘psychiatric label’ to only one set of vignettes. All the vignettes (with or without the ‘psychiatric label’) were followed by 14 statements addressing the acceptance of a person described by vignette, as judged by social distance (four-point Likert scale).
Results:
Higher tendency to stigmatize was found in medical students in the final year, after psychiatric rotation (ZU = −3.12, p = .002), particularly in a closer relationship (ZU = −2.67, p = .007) between a student and a hypothetical person who goes to a psychiatrist. The non-medical students had a similar tendency to stigmatize as medical students before psychiatric rotation (ZU = −0.03, p = .975). Neither gender, nor the size of student’s place of origin or average academic mark was associated with the tendency to stigmatize in our sample. However, student’s elf-esteem was lower in those with a tendency to stigmatize more in a distant relationship (ρ = −0.157, p = .005).
Conclusions:
Psychiatric education can either reinforce stigmatization or reduce it. Therefore, detailed analyses of educational domains that reinforce stigma will be the starting point for anti-stigma action.