Reducing Mental Illness Stigma in the Classroom

Abstract

Psychology courses present unique opportunities to reduce mental illness stigma. The literature highlights contact with people diagnosed with disorders as the best stigma reduction technique. Simple stigma education, however, is also promising and can be accomplished as part of course content coverage. Abnormal psychology students participated in one of five conditions to gauge the impact of different stigma reduction techniques. Results for overall stigma reduction indicate robust effect sizes (Cohen’s d; range = 0.77–1.52) for all interventions conditions, but no effect for the control condition. The current study supports the use of stigma reduction techniques but highlights the usefulness of stigma education as a simple but powerful tool for stigma reduction within standard course curricula.