Department of Sociology, University of California, Riverside, USA.
Department of Sociology, University of Iowa, USA.
Soc Sci Res. 2021 May;96:102543. doi: 10.1016/j.ssresearch.2021.102543. Epub 2021 Mar 31.
Numerous countries, communities, and organizations have conducted campaigns aimed at reducing the stigma of mental illness. Using an online experiment, we evaluate the relative effectiveness of three types of campaign messages (information about the biological origins of an illness, information about the psycho-social origins of an illness, and inspirational information about the competence of those with an illness) for reducing the perceived stigma (how I think others feel) and personal stigma (how I personally feel) tied to two illnesses (depression and schizophrenia). Drawing on expectation states theories (EST), affect control theories (ACT), and past research, we expected all three messages to reduce both types of stigma, with their relative effectiveness following this order: competence > psycho-social > biology. We find that the messages are more effective at reducing personal stigma than perceived stigma and that the competence message reduces both types of stigma more effectively than the other messages. More specifically, we find that (1) none of the messages reduce the perceived stigma of depression, (2) only the competence message consistently reduces the perceived stigma of schizophrenia, (3) only the competence message reduces personal stigma toward individuals with depression, and (4) all three messages reduce personal stigma toward individuals with schizophrenia and do so equally well. The findings provide support for propositions in EST and ACT and suggest that stigma-reduction campaigns that focus on the competence and capabilities of individuals with a mental illness will be more effective than those that focus on information about the origins of mental illness.
许多国家、社区和组织都开展了旨在减少精神疾病污名化的活动。我们通过一项在线实验，评估了三种类型的活动信息（关于疾病生物学起源的信息、关于疾病心理社会起源的信息和关于患病者能力的励志信息）在减少与两种疾病（抑郁症和精神分裂症）相关的感知污名（我认为他人的感受）和个人污名（我个人的感受）方面的相对有效性。基于期望状态理论（EST）、情感控制理论（ACT）和以往的研究，我们预计所有三种信息都能减少这两种类型的污名，其相对有效性遵循以下顺序：能力>心理社会>生物学。我们发现，这些信息在减少个人污名方面比减少感知污名更有效，而且能力信息比其他信息更有效地减少这两种类型的污名。更具体地说，我们发现：（1）没有一种信息能减少对抑郁症的感知污名；（2）只有能力信息能持续减少对精神分裂症的感知污名；（3）只有能力信息能减少对抑郁症患者的个人污名；（4）所有三种信息都能减少对精神分裂症患者的个人污名，而且效果相当。这些发现为 EST 和 ACT 的假设提供了支持，并表明，关注患有精神疾病的个人的能力和能力的污名减少活动将比关注精神疾病起源的信息的活动更有效。
