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(1 - 10 of 10)
- Title
- THE IMPACT OF EXPLICIT AND IMPLICIT ATTITUDES COMPRISING MENTAL ILLNESS STIGMA ON TAKING PSYCHOTROPIC MEDICATIONS AS PRESCRIBED
- Creator
- Michaels, Patrick
- Date
- 2015, 2015-07
- Description
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Research suggests mental illness stigma adversely impacts psychotropic medication use. Few studies have examined stigma and psychotropic...
Show moreResearch suggests mental illness stigma adversely impacts psychotropic medication use. Few studies have examined stigma and psychotropic medication use with a naturalistic design. This study assessed the independent impact of attitudes toward psychiatric medication, cognitive insight, explicit and implicit attitudes of public stigma and self-stigma on psychotropic medication use for people with serious mental illnesses. Medication use was examined in this one-month longitudinal study via self-reported medication use, desire to take medication as directed, pill count use rates over a onemonth period, and pharmacy records including maximum continuous gap, number of gaps, and medication possession ratios. The primary expectation that explicit and implicit attitudes would independently explain lower psychotropic medication use was mostly not supported. On average participants took 82% of psychotropic medication as prescribed, indicating medication was taken at a therapeutic level despite stigma. The most consistent association across time was a positive relationship among desire to take medication and self-application of negative stereotypes. The second finding was that attitudes toward psychotropic medication may be associated with self-reported use, maximum continuous gap, and medication possession. Implications for clinical practice recommend providers are aware, discuss, and intervene in consumer’s experiences with stigma, which can improve medication use and psychological stability. Future research should specifically enroll participants who concurrently take suboptimal doses of medication (<80% of medication) to study stigma and non-adherence. Research should seek to understand how internalized stigma and psychotropic medication stigma are related to suboptimal medication use behaviors among people with mental illness in longitudinal non-intervention studies.
Ph.D. in Psychology, July 2015
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- Title
- A PILOT STUDY TO ASSESS THE EFFICACY OF A MENTOR BASED ANTI- STIGMA MENTAL HEALTH CURRICULUM FOR BACCALAUREATE NURSING STUDENTS
- Creator
- Fokuo, Joyce Konadu Mansah
- Date
- 2017, 2017-07
- Description
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Stigma towards people with mental illness by healthcare providers results in disparities in help-seeking, treatment, and quality of care....
Show moreStigma towards people with mental illness by healthcare providers results in disparities in help-seeking, treatment, and quality of care. Within the health care system, professionals such as nurses and nursing students endorse negative stereotypes about people with mental illness. Using 23 nursing students this pilot study evaluated the efficacy and feasibility of a five-week manualized consumer-led mentorship program as a supplement to a mental health theory and clinical curriculum for baccalaureate nursing students. Participants completed measures on intended personal and professional behaviors, stigmatizing attitudes and affirming attitudes measures pre-intervention, post-intervention and at one-month follow-up. Feasibility measures were also completed by students, mentors and faculty members’ post-intervention. Results suggest a significant decrease in stigmatizing attitudes post intervention. The effect was maintained at one-month follow-up. There was also a significant decreased in affirming attitudes post intervention. This effect was unexpected and not maintained at one-month follow-up. Affirming attitudes significantly increased at one-month follow-up. There was no statistically significant change in intended personal and professional behaviors. Program feasibility was high for face-to-face meeting and participants were overall satisfied with the integration of the supplemental program. These findings suggest that a consumer-led mentoring program can effectively reduce mental health stigma within student nursing populations.
Ph.D. in Psychology, July 2017
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- Title
- THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CULTURAL ORIENTATION AND ATTITUDES TOWARDS INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY
- Creator
- Rafajko, Sean I.
- Date
- 2016, 2016-07
- Description
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Individuals with intellectual disability (ID) face a number of disparities in their daily lives. Many of these disparities are the result of...
Show moreIndividuals with intellectual disability (ID) face a number of disparities in their daily lives. Many of these disparities are the result of interactions with people in their environment, including the general public. The behaviors of the general public toward people with ID are linked to the attitudes that they hold. Thus, it is essential to understand what influences these attitudes. Although there has been some research conducted examining how factors such as demographics and level of contact with individuals with ID affect attitudes, there has been only very limited research specifically investigating the impact of cultural factors on attitudes toward individuals with ID. The purpose of this study was to examine the unique contribution of cultural orientation variables as predictors of individuals’ attitudes toward ID using hierarchical regression analyses. Results revealed that for all examined domains of attitudes, cultural orientation accounted for a significant portion of the variance in attitudes toward ID. More specifically, it was found that greater vertical-individualist orientation was associated with more negative attitude towards ID on all domains, while other cultural orientations (horizontal-collectivist, horizontal-individualist, and vertical-collectivist), when significant, were associated with more positive attitudes toward ID. Findings from this study suggest that culture is a relevant area to explore in future research on attitudes toward ID. Further research is needed to understand how these relationships play out especially for specific groups, such as caregivers and clinicians, in order to better understand how cultural orientation can more directly affect the lives of individuals with ID.
M.S. in Psychology, July 2016
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- Title
- AGEISM AND PUBLIC STIGMA TOWARDS OLDER ADULTS WITH ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE
- Creator
- Baumgartner, Sarah Elisabeth
- Date
- 2017, 2017-07
- Description
-
Dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease is a neurodegenerative condition more common in the older adult population. Persons with Alzheimer’s...
Show moreDementia due to Alzheimer’s disease is a neurodegenerative condition more common in the older adult population. Persons with Alzheimer’s disease are a unique population in that they not only are likely to experience stigma related to having a neurodegenerative disease, but they may also experience stigma as a result of their age. The present study combined the ageism literature and Weiner’s theory of attribution to investigate (1) the goodness of fit of Weiner’s model as a means of explaining public stigma expressed towards persons with Alzheimer’s disease, and (2) the impact ageism, anxiety about personally aging, anxiety about personally developing Alzheimer’s disease, intergroup anxiety, and level of familiarity with Alzheimer’s disease may have on the public stigma expressed towards an older adult with Alzheimer’s disease. Two hundred and fifty-eight Amazon MTurk workers read a short vignette of an older adult with either a Normal Aging, Mild Alzheimer’s disease or Severe Alzheimer’s disease description, and completed self-report measures. Results revealed marginal support for Weiner’s attribution theory as a model to explain the public stigma expressed towards older persons with Alzheimer’s, as well as, the influence ageist attitudes and both intergroup anxiety and worry about developing personally developing Alzheimer’s disease have on emotional reactions of anger and helping behavioral intentions. Clinical implications regarding increasing empowerment for individuals with Alzheimer’s disease, as well as, psychoeducation and contact interventions to decrease the public stigma of Alzheimer’s disease are discussed.
Ph.D. in Psychology, July 2017
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- Title
- Buried in stigma: Experimental investigation of the impact of hoarding depictions in reality television on public perception
- Creator
- Bates, Sage
- Date
- 2019
- Description
-
Hoarding disorder (HD) has been newly classified as a distinct mental disorder and is a considerable public health concern. Treatment...
Show moreHoarding disorder (HD) has been newly classified as a distinct mental disorder and is a considerable public health concern. Treatment ambivalence is a problem in this clinical population, and stigma of HD may be one potential factor contributing to an unwillingness to seek treatment. However, stigma of HD has been understudied, despite the media often perpetuating severe and negative representations of individuals with HD. This study is the first to investigate experimentally the impact of a popular reality television show on attitudes and beliefs about individuals with HD. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions in which they watched popular television shows with varying degrees of clutter: Hoarders (high clutter depiction), Clean House (medium clutter depiction), and House Hunters (low clutter depiction). Participant attitudes and beliefs were evaluated before and after the episode viewing. Results of the study showed that participants who viewed A&E’s Hoarders desired more social distance from individuals with HD—an index of stigma—after viewing the television show, compared to the other groups. The interaction effects of two additional indices of stigma based on watching Hoarders approached statistical significance. There were also significant effects found for other indices of stigma. The present experimental study contributes to the very small body of research investigating stigma of HD and possible causes of treatment ambivalence in individuals living with HD.
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- Title
- The Impact of Knowledge, Self-efficacy, and Stigma on STI Testing Intention among College Students
- Creator
- Thomas, Julia
- Date
- 2019
- Description
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Young people (ages 15-24) account for over half of the new cases of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) each year in the United States (CDC...
Show moreYoung people (ages 15-24) account for over half of the new cases of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) each year in the United States (CDC, 2016). The current study examined how knowledge, self-efficacy, and stigma are associated with STI testing intention among sexually active college students using path model analysis. Data were collected via an online survey (N = 76, 54% female). STI testing intention was measured using a 5-point Likert scale for eight STIs referenced in the Brief Sexual History Tool (CDC, 2018). These items comprised an intention scale with high internal consistency for this sample (α = .97). Path analysis was conducted using SPSS AMOS and MacKinnon’s ab product approach in RMediation was used to test mediating effects. The predicted path model fit the data well and the relationships between self-efficacy and knowledge, label avoidance, and intention were significant. Mediation analysis revealed significant indirect paths for knowledge and label avoidance on STI testing intention through self-efficacy. These findings indicate that self-efficacy directly impacts college students’ STI testing intention, while knowledge and label avoidance indirectly impact intention through self-efficacy. Findings suggest that providers and college health clinics may be able to increase the frequency of STI testing behavior by promoting strategies to increase students’ self-efficacy.
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- Title
- They Aren't Like Me, They are Bad, and They are to Blame: A Theoretically-Informed Study of Stigma of Hoarding Disorder and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
- Creator
- Chasson, Gregory S., Guy, Arryn A., Bates, Sage, Corrigan, Patrick W.
- Date
- 2018, 2018
- Publisher
- Elsevier
- Title
- The Public Stigma of Tourette Syndrome
- Creator
- Tooley, Anastasia Cherise
- Date
- 2021
- Description
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There is a dearth of quantitative research examining the public stigma of Tourette syndrome (TS), and no known studies assessing public...
Show moreThere is a dearth of quantitative research examining the public stigma of Tourette syndrome (TS), and no known studies assessing public perceptions of difference (how similar they are), disdain (how bad they are), and blame (how responsible they are) toward individuals with TS. The current study sought to understand the public stigma of TS as a visible and unconcealable condition. An internet sample of 450 adults were recruited through MTurk. Participants read four brief vignettes, each describing an adolescent with TS, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), or a history of juvenile detention. Results showed TS to be associated with neutral or negative public perceptions across stigma facets. When compared to OCD and ASD, vignettes describing TS were viewed with similar difference, disdain, and blame. TS was least familiar to participants. Findings highlight differences in stigma for concealable versus visible stigmatized conditions which has implications for future research and anti-stigma interventions.
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- Title
- Testing Models of Minority Stress and Cognitive Escape in a Large Sample of Lesbian/Gay Individuals
- Creator
- Manser, Kelly
- Date
- 2020
- Description
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Compared to heterosexual individuals, gay/lesbian individuals experience health and sociopolitical disparities. Health disparities include...
Show moreCompared to heterosexual individuals, gay/lesbian individuals experience health and sociopolitical disparities. Health disparities include higher prevalence of binge drinking, tobacco use, and cardiovascular disease (CVD) among gay/lesbian individuals. Sociopolitical disparities are rooted in structural stigma and include policies and norms that fail to protect, or actively discriminate against, gay/lesbian individuals. These health and sociopolitical disparities can be understood by converging two theories previously tested among gay/lesbian individuals – minority stress and cognitive escape. Minority stress theory asserts factors such as structural stigma may relate to proximal stress and negative health sequelae in targeted minority groups, while cognitive escape theory suggests escape-related behaviors like substance use may mediate links between systemic factors and individual health. This study used binary logistic regressions to test mediation models in which substance use mediated links between structural stigma and health within a large sample of gay/lesbian individuals. Structural stigma was operationalized as number of sexual orientation anti-discrimination laws, health was operationalized as presence versus absence of any CVD conditions, and substance use was operationalized as binge drinking and tobacco use. Models were tested in an aggregated sample, and also in sex/gender subsamples. In bivariate and component-path analyses, structural stigma predicted smoking frequency across samples. Stigma-binge drinking linkages were more salient among lesbian women compared to gay men. According to Sobel tests, smoking status mediated the stigma-CVD status relation for males-only and combined-sex samples. Study strengths, limitations, and implications are discussed.
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- Title
- Qualitative Investigation of Stigma Experiences of Individuals Living with Hoarding Disorder
- Creator
- Bates, Sage
- Date
- 2023
- Description
-
Hoarding disorder (HD) is characterized by significant difficulty discarding items, resulting in an accumulation of clutter. HD is a public...
Show moreHoarding disorder (HD) is characterized by significant difficulty discarding items, resulting in an accumulation of clutter. HD is a public health concern and is associated with treatment ambivalence (e.g., refusal to initiate treatment, dropout, and limited treatment compliance). While low insight and motivation may account for some of the treatment ambivalence, it also could be due to a number of other factors related to how HD is being perceived by others, such as stigma. Yet, there is very little research on the relationship between stigma and hoarding, and what these studies have shown is that HD is judged negatively by the general population (i.e., public stigma) in a variety of ways. However, despite these initial findings, there are no in-depth studies examining stigma of HD from the perspective of those with lived experience. Further, previous research of stigma and HD utilized stigma measures that were significantly modified from their original intent to measure severe mental illness, and it is possible that general measures of stigma may not capture the specific features of HD or public perceptions of HD. The present study is a qualitative analysis to investigate stigma pertinent to HD.
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