Decreasing Prejudicial Attitudes of Fear and Avoidance Toward Those Who Live with a Mental Illness—A Quasi-Experimental Controlled Study

Figures & data

Table 1. Example instruments items concerning prejudice.

Condition (Instrument)	Subscale	Example item
Schizophrenia (PPS-SV)	Fear/Avoidance	I would feel unsafe being around someone who has schizophrenia.
General Mental Illness (PPMI-SV)	Unpredictability	The behavior of people with mental illness is just as predictable as that of people who are mentally healthy^a.
Depression (PPD-SV)	Authoritarianism	People who have depression should be forced to have treatment.
General Mental Illness (PPMI-SV)	Malevolence	People who become mentally ill are not failures in life^a.

Note: PPS-SV = Prejudice toward People with Schizophrenia, Shortened Version; PPMI-SV = Prejudice toward People with Mental Illness, Shortened Version; PPD-SV = Prejudice toward People with Depression, Shortened Version.

^a Reverse-scored.

Table 2. Demographic characteristics.

	Control group		Intervention group		Total sample
Baseline characteristic	n	%	n	%	n	%
Gender Identity^a
Man	8	14.8	7	9.7	15	11.9
Woman	45	83.3	65	90.3	110	87.3
Prefer not to say^b	1	1.9	0	0	1	0.8
Age in years^c
20-29	43	79.6	58	80.6	101	80.2
30-39	10	18.6	10	14	20	15.9
≥ 40	1	1.9	3	4.2	4	3.2
Prefer not to say^b	0	0	1	1.4	1	0.8
Ethnicity^d
African American  or Black	9	16.7	5	6.9	14	11.1
Asian, Asian  American,  or East Asian	7	13	14	19.4	21	16.7
Hispanic or Latino	6	11.1	6	8.3	12	9.5
Jewish	0	0	3	4.2	3	2.4
Middle Eastern	1	1.9	0	0	1	0.8
White	19	35.2	26	36.1	45	35.7
More than one	2	3.7	2	2.8	4	3.2
Prefer not to say^b	10	18.5	16	22.2	26	20.6
A family member has experienced a mental health issue^e
Yes	34	63	40	55.6	74	58.7
No	19	35.2	29	40.3	48	38.1
Prefer not to say^b	1	1.9	3	4.2	4	3.2
A friend has experienced a mental health issue^f
Yes	35	64.8	46	63.9	81	64.3
No	18	33.3	22	30.6	40	31.7
Prefer not to say^b	4	5.6	4	5.6	5	4

Note: N = 126.

^a Gender identity did not differ by group, χ2(1) = 0.834, p = 0.361.

^b Where students preferred not to disclose certain demographic characteristics, the absence was treated as missing data for the analysis.

^c Age did not differ by group, t(123) = 0.648, p = 0.681, 95% CI [-1.17, 2.31].

^d Ethnicity did not differ by group, χ2(3) = 3.374, p = .338. The following responses for reported ethnicity had the fewest responses and were collapsed into one shared group: Hispanic or Latino, Jewish, Middle Eastern, and More than one. There were no statistically significant differences in reported ethnicity between the groups.

^e No difference was found between groups, χ2(1) = 0.480, p = .489. ^fNo difference was found between groups, χ2(1) = 0.035, p = 0.852.

Figure 1. Interaction of group and time for prejudice toward people living with mental illness.

Note: N = 126. Figure zoomed in to show trend.

Figure 2. Interaction of group and time for prejudice toward people living with depression.

Note: N = 126. Figure zoomed in to show trend.

Figure 3. Interaction of group and time for prejudice toward people living with schizophrenia.

Note: N = 126. Figure zoomed in to show trend.

Table 3. Two-way mixed ANOVAs for prejudice toward people living with general mental illness, depression, or schizophrenia: Total scores.

	Control (n = 54)		Intervention (n = 72)			ANOVA
Condition (Instrument)	M	SD	M	SD	Effect	F ratio	df	p	η^2
General Mental Illness (PPMI-SV)
Interaction					G x T	4.97	1,124	.028	.038
Pretest	3.84	.99	3.88	.97	G	0.06	1,124	.808	.000
Posttest	3.91	1.06	3.72	.94	G	1.16	1,124	.285	.009
Difference	0.07				T	1.08	1,53	.304	.020
Difference			−0.16		T	4.72	1,71	.033	.062
Depression (PPD-SV)
Interaction					G x T	0.38	1,124	.540	.003
Pretest	3.51	.94	3.60	.98
Posttest	3.42	.98	3.44	.96
Difference	−0.09		−0.16
Time					T	7.29	1,124	.008	.056
Group					G	0.11	1,124	738	.001
Schizophrenia (PPS-SV)
Interaction					G x T	2.27	1,124	.135	.018
Pretest	4.29	1.01	4.38	.98
Posttest	4.30	1.24	4.21	1.05
Difference	0.01		−0.17
Time					T	1.66	1,124	.2	.130
Group					G	0.00	1,124	.992	.000

Note: N = 126. PPMI-SV = Prejudice toward People with Mental Illness, Shortened Version; PPD-SV = Prejudice toward People with Depression, Shortened Version; PPS-SV = Prejudice toward People with Schizophrenia, Shortened Version; G = Group (Control/Intervention); T = Time of testing (Pretest/Posttest); ANOVA = analysis of variance.

Table 4. Summary of subscale results.

	Subscale
Condition (Instrument)	Fear/Avoidance	Unpredictability	Authoritarianism	Malevolence
General Mental Illnesss (PPMI-SV)	*Significant interaction effect.	*Nonsignificant interaction effect.	*Nonsignificant	*Nonsignificant
	*Significant simple main effect of time for IG (less prejudice) and CG (more prejudice).	*Significant main effect of time (less prejudice).
Depression (PPD-SV)	*Nonsignificant interaction effect.	*Nonsignificant interaction effect.	*Nonsignificant	*Nonsignificant
	*Significant main effect of time (less prejudice).	*Significant main effect of time (less prejudice).
Schizophrenia (PPS-SV)	*Significant interaction effect.	*Nonsignificant	*Nonsignificant	*Nonsignificant
	*Significant simple main effect of time for IG (less prejudice).

Note: PPMI-SV = Prejudice toward People with Mental Illness, Shortened Version; PPD-SV = Prejudice toward People with Depression, Shortened Version; PPS-SV = Prejudice toward People with Schizophrenia, Shortened Version; IG = intervention group; CG = control group.