Pharmacy and nursing students' stigma and perceptions toward individuals with mental illness impacted through interaction with a website featuring lived experiences

Abstract

Introduction: Despite its high prevalence and negative impact, mental illness is often sub-optimally treated, in part, due to stigma among health care professionals. Future health care professionals are at the forefront of a potential solution for the provision of stigma-free, equitable mental health care. Innovative approaches to reducing the stigma toward individuals with mental illness are needed. One approach is utilization of the SNAP the Stigma website (www.snapthestigma.com), a collection of photos and reflections by individuals with lived experiences with mental illness. Objective: This study was conducted to address the question: Does interacting with the SNAP the Stigma website impact pharmacy and nursing students' perceptions and social distance preference toward an individual with mental illness?. Methods: A pre- and post-survey employed the Bogardus social distance scale (SDS) to assess stigma toward a vignette individual before and after website interaction. In the post-survey, participants reflected on one or more posts from the website that impacted them. A qualitative analysis was performed to identify themes from the responses. Results: A statistically significant reduction in total SDS scores occurred as a result of interaction with SNAP. Three themes were derived including symbolism of mental illness, increased empathy/reduced stereotyping, and lessons regarding what a health care professional can do and offer. Conclusion: These findings suggest that use of the SNAP website as a stigma-reduction intervention could be a valuable tool for current and future health care professionals to decrease stigma toward those with mental illness and to build intentionality toward empathic and non-discriminatory behavior in health care practice.