Roškar Saška, Kralj Domen, Andriessen Karl, Krysinska Karolina, Vinko Matej, Podlesek Anja
Department for Health Research and Development, National Institute of Public Health, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Centre for Mental Health, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
Front Psychiatry. 2022 Jun 28;13:931245. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.931245. eCollection 2022.
Stigma about mental illness-both public and self-is one of the most important factors hindering help-seeking. Stigma can occur during an acute episode of mental illness or be anticipatory. One group affected by stigma, but often neglected, is mental health professionals. This study examined the anticipated form of mental-illness and help-seeking self-stigma and the anticipated form of public stigma of suicidal behavior among members of the International Association for Suicide Prevention. We hypothesized that suicidologists with a history of suicidality or mental illness would anticipate greater stigma from the public and self.
The study received ethical approval from the Commission for Medical Ethics of the Republic of Slovenia. Data from 83 participants who completed an online survey (February to May 2020) with informed consent were analyzed using path analysis. We tested a model predicting help-seeking self-stigma based on (i) personal experience of mental illness using anticipated self-stigma of mental illness as a mediating variable and (ii) history of suicidal behavior using anticipated public stigma of suicidal behavior as a mediating variable.
Personal experience of mental illness predicted anticipation of self-stigma of mental illness (β = 0.26). History of suicidality predicted anticipation of public stigma of suicidal behavior (β = 0.29). Anticipated self-stigma of mental illness proved to be a stronger predictor of help-seeking self-stigma (β = 0.40) than anticipated public stigma of suicidal behavior (β = 0.07).
It is important to intentionally support the mental health of suicide prevention professionals, as they are not immune to mental illness or various types of stigma. Because our sample was small and diverse, further research to better understand stigma concepts in this population is warranted.
对精神疾病的污名化——包括公众污名和自我污名——是阻碍寻求帮助的最重要因素之一。污名化可能发生在精神疾病急性发作期间，也可能是预期性的。一个受到污名化影响但常常被忽视的群体是心理健康专业人员。本研究调查了国际自杀预防协会成员对精神疾病和寻求帮助的自我污名的预期形式，以及对自杀行为的公众污名的预期形式。我们假设，有自杀未遂史或精神疾病史的自杀学专家会预期来自公众和自我的更大污名。
该研究获得了斯洛文尼亚共和国医学伦理委员会的伦理批准。对83名在2020年2月至5月期间完成在线调查并获得知情同意的参与者的数据进行了路径分析。我们测试了一个预测寻求帮助的自我污名的模型，该模型基于：（i）以预期的精神疾病自我污名为中介变量的精神疾病个人经历，以及（ii）以预期的自杀行为公众污名为中介变量的自杀行为史。
精神疾病个人经历预测了对精神疾病自我污名的预期（β = 0.26）。自杀未遂史预测了对自杀行为公众污名的预期（β = 0.29）。事实证明，预期的精神疾病自我污名（β = 0.40）比预期的自杀行为公众污名（β = 0.07）更能预测寻求帮助的自我污名。
有意支持自杀预防专业人员的心理健康很重要，因为他们也不能免疫于精神疾病或各种类型的污名。由于我们的样本规模小且多样，有必要进行进一步研究，以更好地理解该人群中的污名概念。
