scholarly journals An Anti-Stigma Course for Occupational Therapy Students in Taiwan: Development and Pilot Testing

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (15) ◽  
pp. 5599 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hui-Ing Ma ◽  
Chu-En Hsieh
Keyword(s):  
Mental Illness ◽  
Occupational Therapy ◽  
Social Distance ◽  
Healthcare Professionals ◽  
Social Contact ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Behavioural Disorders ◽  
Occupational Therapy Students ◽  
Post Test ◽  
One Year

Attitudes of healthcare professionals towards people with disorders/disabilities are important for the development of therapeutic relationships, as well as to the evaluation and intervention processes. Therefore, it is critical to be aware and reduce stigmatizing attitudes in future healthcare professionals. An 18-week anti-stigma course was developed for occupational therapy students based on literature review and focus group interview. The course consisted of three components, including social contact, roleplaying, and critical reflection strategies. A quasi-experimental design was implemented to evaluate participants at three time points (i.e., pre-test, post-test, and one year after completion) using the Social Distance Scale and several questionnaires (i.e., stigmatising attitudes towards mental illness, physical disabilities, and children with emotional behavioural disorders). A total of 16 students completed the course and had significantly decreased social distance and stigmatising attitudes towards mental illness and emotional behavioural disorders in the post-test. These decreases remained one year later. The results support the provision of an anti-stigma course for occupational therapy students to reduce stigmatising attitudes. Future research should extend the anti-stigma course to occupational therapy students at other universities to increase both the sample size and overall generalisability.

Public attitudes and the challenge of stigma

2020 ◽  
pp. 6-11
Author(s):  
Nicole Votruba ◽  
Mirja Koschorke ◽  
Graham Thornicroft
Keyword(s):  
Mental Illness ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Social Contact ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Stigma And Discrimination ◽  
People With Mental Illness ◽  
Culturally Adapted ◽  
Low And Middle Income

People with mental illness frequently face challenges related to knowledge, attitudes, and behaviour. These challenges are more commonly known as stigma and discrimination, and appear universally with local and regional variations in their content and manifestations. They display in low levels of mental health literacy among the general population (ignorance/knowledge), negative affect towards people with experience of mental illness (prejudice/attitudes), and social exclusion and diminished citizenship for people with mental illness (discrimination/behaviour). This chapter looks at how people with mental illness are impacted by stigma and discrimination, considering the evidence of the implications of these knowledge, attitudes, and behaviour, and summarizes the literature on what can be done to effectively reduce stigma and discrimination. Increasingly strong evidence suggests that personal and social contact methods, including filmed/virtual contact, are the most strongly evidence-based method to reduce stigma and discrimination. Yet, most evidence is from high-income countries and tested for short- to mid-term efficacy. This evidence gap increases the need for more evidence from low- and middle-income countries and validation of sustainability in more long-term studies. In summary and for future research and interventions, service users will the key partners in anti-stigma programmes, and interventions specifically locally and culturally adapted for use in low- and middle-income countries are a pressing priority.

scholarly journals Investigating Possible Effects from a One-Year Coach-Education Program

Sports ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 3
Author(s):  
Frode Moen ◽  
Maja Olsen ◽  
John Anders Bjørkøy
Keyword(s):  
Education Program ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Working Alliances ◽  
Coach Education ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Cross Country Skiing ◽  
Cross Country ◽  
One Year ◽  
And Task

The main purpose of the current study was to examine possible effects from a coach education program over one year, in which each coach was supervised by a mentor who facilitated their learning based on coach-centered values. The current study was designed as an experiment with a control group, where the coaches in the experiment group received mentoring by a mentor over one year, whereas the coaches in the control group did not. Ninety-four coaches completed the study over one year from a variety of sports (n > 30), where cross-country skiing, soccer, biathlon, handball and swimming were the most represented sports. Among the coaches in the sample, 87% were coaches for athletes who competed or had ambitions to compete at an international level. The results from self-reported questionnaires at the pre-test and post-test show that the coach education program had a significant effect on the bond dimension in the coach–athlete working alliances and the coaches’ perceived coach performances. The analysis did not find any effects from the coach education program on the goal and task dimension in the coach–athlete working alliances. The findings are discussed in terms of applied implications and possible future research.

scholarly journals The Use of Online Data Sources in a Qualitative Analysis Learning Project

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sunny Winstead ◽  
Christopher Alterio
Keyword(s):  
Occupational Therapy ◽  
Qualitative Analysis ◽  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
Data Sources ◽  
Learning Activity ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Online Data ◽  
Occupational Therapy Students ◽  
Innovative Learning

Our purpose in writing this article is to describe the use of online data sources (such as blogs and microblogs) in a qualitative analysis learning project for graduate occupational therapy students. The project was designed to meet the following learning objectives: (1) increase students’ understanding and appreciation for qualitative research principles and methods, (2) increase students’ ability to use thematic and narrative analysis procedures with authentic data sets, and (3) increase students’ ability to apply qualitative findings to occupational therapy practice. This article describes the project’s theoretical rationale, components, objectives, implementation, and informal outcomes, along with a discussion of strengths and limitations of this project and suggestions for future research. This project demonstrates one way in which publicly available online data sources can be used to create an effective graduate qualitative analysis learning activity. We are sharing this innovative learning project in the hopes that it may be of interest to our colleagues in higher education and may contribute to the ethical and scholarly use of online data in learning assignments.

scholarly journals Attitudes towards severe mental illness and social distance: A survey of volunteer befrienders in Austria

2018 ◽  
Vol 64 (5) ◽  
pp. 470-475 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Toner ◽  
Karin Fabisch ◽  
Stefan Priebe ◽  
Gϋnter Klug
Keyword(s):  
Mental Illness ◽  
General Population ◽  
Severe Mental Illness ◽  
Social Distance ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Independent Variables ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Professional Contexts ◽  
The Relationship

Background: Research suggests there is a propensity for people in the general population to distance themselves from people with severe mental illness (SMI), which reportedly decreases with increased contact with individuals with SMI. Volunteer befrienders in the mental health sector have ongoing contact with this population, yet little data exist to reflect their attitudes towards people with SMI. Method: A questionnaire was distributed to all volunteer befrienders for people with SMI within volunteering programmes organised in five Austrian regions. A vignette described an individual with SMI and was followed by questions assessing willingness to interact with this person in personal or professional contexts. Social distance scores, calculated based on responses to attitude items, were used as the dependent variable in regression analyses. Independent variables included participant characteristics, experience of family/friends with mental illness, time spent befriending and satisfaction with the relationship. Results: Questionnaires were completed and returned by 360 volunteers (54.0%). A minority would allow someone with SMI to look after their children (6.2%), while most volunteers positively endorsed other personal interactions such as having the individual marry into their family (67.8%) or become a neighbour (99.7%). Social distance ( M = 2.5, standard deviation [ SD] = 1.16) was not associated with any independent variables. Conclusions: Volunteers had a lower desire for social distance from individuals with SMI as compared to findings from the general population. Future research may establish whether lower social distance is part of the motivation to volunteer as a befriender to people with severe mental illness or develops over time in that role or both.

Attitudes of Occupational Therapy Personnel toward Therapists with Disabilities

1992 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 259-277 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah L. Elliott ◽  
Jodie Redditi Hanzlik ◽  
Jeffrey A. Gliner
Keyword(s):  
Occupational Therapy ◽  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Social Distance ◽  
Occupational Therapists ◽  
Mental Disability ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Work Situation ◽  
Social Distance Scale ◽  
Disability Categories

Responses were analyzed for a social distance scale and questionnaire regarding the attitudes of 106 Registered Occupational Therapists (OTRs) and 98 Certified Occupational Therapy assistants toward Registered OTRs who were hypothetically diagnosed as disabled according to 20 physical or mental disability categories. Results indicated that occupational therapy personnel generally had favorable attitudes toward peers with disabilities in a work situation, with the exception of peers who were specifically diagnosed with drug dependency problems and psychiatric disorders. Neither the length of time a professional had been practicing occupational therapy, nor the quantity or quality of contact with people who have disabilities affected the attitudes expressed. Implications of the results and suggestions for future research are discussed.

scholarly journals At home or in hospital: Home treatment and mental health stigma

2021 ◽  
pp. 002076402110095
Author(s):  
Allerdiena A Hubbeling ◽  
Jared G Smith
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Social Distance ◽  
Health Knowledge ◽  
Social Contact ◽  
Home Treatment ◽  
Mental Health Stigma ◽  
People With Mental Illness ◽  
The Uk ◽  
At Home

Background: Stigmatized attitudes towards people with mental illness may influence treatment choice for oneself and others. Aim: To gauge the attitudes of the UK general public towards treatment at home for mental illness and to assess the extent to which non-acceptability was related to stigmatized attitudes. Methods: Two hundred and two (101 female) people living in the UK completed an online (vignette) questionnaire in which we asked demographic details and personal experience of mental illness. To measure stigma, we used an adapted version of the Attitudes to Mental Illness Questionnaire (AMIQ) with vignettes asking about treatment at home and using scales for social distance and poor expectations; participants also filled in the Mental Health Knowledge Schedule (MAKS). Results: Participants did not evidence overall agreement with treatment at home for mental illness (i.e. >0; range = −16-to-+16, Mean ( M) = 0.86, 95% confidence interval (CI) = −0.08, 1.80, p = .073), although they showed significant agreement with treatment at home should they experience mental illness themselves (range = −8-to-+8, M = 1.36, CI = 0.82, 1.89, p < .001). Acceptability for treatment at home differed according to specific mental illness considered (range = −4-to-+4); depression ( M = 0.47, CI = 0.13, 0.81, p = .006) and alcohol abuse ( M = 1.46, CI = 1.14,1.77, p < .001) were considered suitable for being treated at home but schizophrenia was not ( M = −0.78, CI = −1.13,−0.43, p < .001). Multivariate analyses revealed that older age and attitudes indicating comfort with less social distance from people with mental illness were independently associated with treatment at home agreeability. Conclusions: Public acceptability of home treatment for mental illness remains ambivalent in the UK, most obviously when considering treatment approaches for individuals other than themselves and for people with schizophrenia. Disagreement with home treatment is particularly evident in younger people and those who prefer less social contact with people with mental illness.

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