Can stigmatizing attitudes be prevented in psychology students?

Abstract

Background

Stigmatizing attitudes have been found among psychology students in many studies, and they are becoming more common with time.

Aims

This study examines whether participation in clinical psychology lessons reduces levels of stigmatization in a population of psychology students and whether it leads to any change in stigmatization.

Methods

The study is a pre/post evaluation of the effectiveness of clinical psychology lessons (63 hours of lectures) as a tool to fight stigma. The presence of stigmatizing attitudes was detected using the Italian version of the Attribution Questionnaire-27 (AQ-27-I). Stigmatization was described before and after the lessons with structured equation modeling (SEM).

Results

Of a total of 387 students contacted, 302 (78.04%) agreed to be involved in the study, but only 266 (68.73%) completed the questionnaires at both t0 and t1. A statistically significant reduction was seen in all six scales and the total score on the AQ-27-I. The models defined by the SEM (pre- and post-intervention) showed excellent model fit indices and described different dynamics of the phenomenon of stigma.

Conclusions

A cycle of clinical psychology lessons can be a useful tool for reducing stigmatizing attitudes in a population of students seeking a psychology degree.

Keywords:

• Stigma
• structured equation modeling
• pre/post evaluation
• psychology students
• discrimination

Ethical statement

The authors assert that all procedures contributing to this work comply with the ethical standards of the relevant national and institutional committees on human experimentation and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2008. Approval by the Ethics Committee was not requested, as the questionnaires administered are not diagnostic and do not collect any clinical data. The questionnaires collect personal opinions on the topic of stigma in mental health. Each student was presented the research protocol and asked to provide informed consent and acceptance to participate in the study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflicts of interest are reported by the authors.

Availability of data and materials

All data used for this study are available upon request addressed to the corresponding author.