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Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol (2015) 50:299306 DOI 10.1007/s00127-014-0931-z
ORIGINAL PAPER
Differential stigmatizing attitudes of healthcare professionals towards psychiatry and patients with mental health problems: something to worry about? A pilot study
Laura M. Gras Marte Swart Cees J. Slooff
Jaap van Weeghel Henderikus Knegtering
Stynke Castelein
Received: 3 February 2014 / Accepted: 16 July 2014 / Published online: 15 August 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014
AbstractPurpose This study compares stigmatizing attitudes of different healthcare professionals towards psychiatry and patients with mental health problems.
Methods The Mental Illness Clinicians Attitude (MICA) questionnaire is used to assess stigmatizing attitudes in three groups: general practitioners (GPs, n = 55), mental healthcare professionals (MHCs, n = 67) and forensic psychiatric professionals (FPs, n = 53).
Results A modest positive attitude towards psychiatry was found in the three groups (n = 176). Signicant differences were found on the total MICA-score (p \ 0.001).
GPs scored signicantly higher than the FPs and the latter scored signicantly higher than the MHCs on all factors of the MICA. Most stigmatizing attitudes were found on professionals views of health/social care eld and mental illness and disclosure. Personal and work experience did not inuence stigmatizing attitudes.
Conclusions Although all three groups have a relatively positive attitude using the MICA, there is room for improvement. Bias toward socially acceptable answers cannot be ruled out. Patients view on stigmatizing attitudes of professionals may be a next step in stigma research in professionals.
Keywords Stigma Attitudes toward mental illness
Healthcare professionals Mental health MICA
Introduction
During the last decade the interest in stigma in mental illness and discriminatory behavior ensuing from it, has increased considerably. Stigmatization affects life domains of people with mental health problems, such as socioeconomic status with associated health risks and interpersonal relationships [13].
The social network of long-term patients with a serious mental illness is frequently impoverished, reected by the nding that 76 % of this group name their healthcare professional as the most important person in their lives [4]. Therefore, attitudes of healthcare professionals towards psychiatry and patients with mental health problems are important because they may be a determinant of the quality of care given to people with a mental illness [57]. Experiencing stigmatization can seriously undermine the clinical course [8], quality...