Identifying and Addressing Stigma in Mental Health Care - 2 x 45 minute sessions- Stigma in professional psychology advice-giving - Philip T. Yanos, PhD, Dan Bernstein MHS, Soo Min Kim, MA
- Destigmatizing Psychiatric Care: Listening to Lived Experience - Dorothy Clare Tessman, MSN, APRN, DNP Pending
Stigma in professional psychology advice-giving - Philip T. Yanos, PhD, Dan Bernstein MHS, Soo Min Kim, MAAlthough research generally supports that mental health professionals endorse less stigma toward people diagnosed with mental health conditions than the general public, there is evidence that stigma persists in this group (O'Connor & Yanos, 2024). Further, when expressed by mental health professionals, stigma may be more impactful. Recently, with the growth of online advice-giving platforms (which allow professionals to take on the role of "influencer" [see White and Hanley, 2022]), expressions of stigma by mental health professionals may also be impactful if they are read by members of the general public, who may then feel emboldened to enact stigma (such as social rejection or the expression of demeaning comments) toward people diagnosed with mental illnesses that they encounter in their daily lives. Psychology Today (psychologytoday.com) is a major platform of professional "advice-giving" which at times publishes articles expressing problematic statements which could impact behavior toward people diagnosed with mental health conditions. The purpose of this study is to survey persons who contribute to Psychology Today on their views regarding a number of problematic statements that have been made on the platform. 500 contributors listed on the Psychology Today website will be randomly selected and emailed an invitation with a survey link using publicly available information. The survey includes demographic questions, questions about a series of problematic statements made by Psychology Today contributors, and the Opening Minds stigma scale for health care providers (Modgil et al. 2014). We anticipate that a significant proportion of advice-givers will agree with problematic statements about people with mental health conditions, and that agreement with these statements will be associated with stigma as measured by the Opening Minds scale. Data collection for the project is currently ongoing and we anticipate that it will be complete by July 2024.
Destigmatizing Psychiatric Care: Listening to Lived Experience - Dorothy Clare Tessman, MSN, APRN, DNP PendingStigma is a barrier to care for people who hear voices and have disrupted salience regulation, leaving healthcare needs unmet, and healthcare workers reporting helplessness, a factor in burnout. Psychiatric evaluations focus on risk, prompting fearful thoughts for vulnerable patients, instigating stigma, and exacerbating symptoms, a concern for causing more harm than they prevent. Rapport with clinicians reduces repeat admissions and unnecessary emergency visits for mental health. Rapport development with the Maastricht Approach (MAp) is a therapeutic intervention, aiming to improve the quality of healthcare experiences for service users and care teams.
Healthcare workers in psychiatric settings seek less stigmatizing, supportive methods to build therapeutic rapport while also meeting the systemic needs of ensuring safe, effective care. Healthcare reform, widely recognized as a desperate mandate, includes the Quality Improvement aims of reducing burnout by improving care teams’ experiences as well as reducing disparities, and improving the quality and value of care, all of which are factors addressed by this project.
This Quality Improvement project is empowering healthcare workers to use MAp, offering prompts for rapport-building evaluation. Participants completed Continuing Education questionnaires and Adapting Practice forms indicating intent to use MAp in encounters with service users. Aims are to improve healthcare workers’ confidence using open curiosity and compassion to build rapport and therapeutic alliance, reducing stigmatization and harm to service users from assessment processes.
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