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ASSESSING THE CONSTRUCT VALIDITY OF THE ERROR CHOICE TEST: A NEW MEASURE OF MENTAL ILLNESS STIGMA
Title
ASSESSING THE CONSTRUCT VALIDITY OF THE ERROR CHOICE TEST: A NEW MEASURE OF MENTAL ILLNESS STIGMA
Creator
Michaels, Patrick
Date
2011-11-16, 2011-12
Description
The stigma of mental illness has been well documented in the United States and remains a worldwide concern. A common methodological necessity...
Show moreThe stigma of mental illness has been well documented in the United States and remains a worldwide concern. A common methodological necessity is to accurately assess attitudes and behaviors without the adverse impact of social desirability. An inexpensive method is to develop and administer an error choice (EC) test to measure opinions. An EC test is presented as a knowledge test, but actually measures prejudice. The current study evaluated the construct validity and reliability of a new EC test on mental illness stigma by administering questionnaires to assess cognitive, affective, behavioral, and knowledge domains in a community sample (N = 203). Results indicated that EC test total score was not related to demographic characteristics, but was related to cognitive, behavioral, and affective domains. The EC test only accounted for a significant amount of unique variance when predicting appropriate personal goals for people with mental illness, R2 change = .054, F(1, 200) = 14.96, p < .001. Both the Attribution Questionnaire and EC test were significant predictors of the personal goals total score, β = .433, p < .001, β = .235, p < .001, respectively. In terms of implications, further evaluation of the EC test would be beneficial given that it is inexpensive, easy to administer, and averts social desirability while discretely measuring prejudice. The use of an EC test could prove to be a useful adjunct to the use of direct attitudinal assessment tools in mental illness stigma studies.
M.S. in Psychology, December 2011
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THE IMPACT OF EXPLICIT AND IMPLICIT ATTITUDES COMPRISING MENTAL ILLNESS STIGMA ON TAKING PSYCHOTROPIC MEDICATIONS AS PRESCRIBED
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
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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