The use of puppets with elementary school children in reducing stigmatizing attitudes towards mental illness

Abstract

Background: Mental health reform has resulted in individuals with mental illness, who previously resided in psychiatric institutions, being moved into the community. These individuals potentially face multi-faceted discrimination, which may impair their recovery.

Aims: Most anti-stigma campaigns have been directed at adults or adolescents. We targeted children in order to evaluate the effectiveness of a puppet program to reduce stigmatizing attitudes in grades 3 – 6 students.

Method: Children received a pre and posttest of their attitudes as measured by the re-factored. Opinions About Mental Illness Scale. The experimental group watched a series of three plays in which hand puppets portrayed individuals with schizophrenia, depression/anxiety, and dementia. The plays were designed to challenge stereotypes and erroneous beliefs regarding mental illness, while appealing to children.

Results: Scores for the children exposed to the puppet plays improved significantly on three of the six factors of the OMI, including, Separatism, Restrictiveness and Stigmatization.

Conclusions: Anti-stigma programs using puppetry show some effectiveness and should be further studied.

Keywords:

• stigma
• mental illness (attitudes toward)
• school-based intervention
• puppets