The Impact of In Our Own Voice on Stigma

Abstract

The stigma of mental disorders is a major public health concern and the development of effective stigma reduction programs has become a priority. This study examined the effectiveness of In Our Own Voice (IOOV), a stigma reduction program offered by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), compared to psychoeducation. The presentations focused on bipolar disorder and to evaluate the specificity of effects, measures of stigma related to bipolar disorder, unipolar depression, schizophrenia, and general mental illness were included. Participants were 43 undergraduates exposed to both IOOV and psychoeducation in a randomly assigned, crossover design reversing the order of exposure. The IOOV presentation significantly decreased stigma for bipolar disorder compared to psychoeducation regardless of order of exposure. Also, IOOV led to significant stigma reduction associated with unipolar depression and approached significant for general mental illness, but not schizophrenia. Possible mechanisms behind IOOV's effect include positive contact with individuals with mental disorders and greater stigma associated with biomedical models of mental disorders emphasized in the psychoeducation condition. Suggestions for future research include evaluating IOOV for other disorders and examining the stability of effects over time.

Keywords:

• Bipolar Disorder
• Mental illness
• Stigma

Notes

Note. Possible range of scores on Social Distance Scales is 0–21 with higher scores indicating greater stigma.