Stigma against people with mental illness in occupational therapy undergraduate students and faculty

Abstract

Introduction: People with mental illness experience stigmatizing attitudes from the general population, including health professionals and students. International studies have estimated the stigma in occupational therapy students towards people with mental illness as moderate. Objective: To describe stigma against people with mental illness in occupational therapy undergraduate students and professors at one university in Chile. Method: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study including 1st and 4th-year occupational therapy students and professors at one university in Santiago, Chile, 2020. An adapted version of the Opening Minds Stigma Scale for Health Care Providers (WHO-HC) was used to assess stigmatizing attitudes, and sociodemographic data were also collected. Average scores for WHO-HC were calculated for the 20-item questionnaire and also adjusted by its 3 dimensions with 15 items. UMann-Whitney y t-student tests were used to estimate group differences. Sociodemographic data were analyzed with descriptive statistics. Results: Sample consisted of 87 subjects, average age 27 (18- 58), 81 (93%) women, 41 (47%) 4th year students, 28 (24%) 1st year students, and 22 (25%) professors. WHO-HC average score for the sample was 42,2 (28-57) indicating moderate to low stigmatizing attitudes. The 1st year students obtained higher scores, with a non-significant difference. Conclusion: The results are consistent with previous literature estimating moderate to low levels of stigmatizing attitudes towards people with mental illness. Emerging differences were observed between 1st and 4th-year students, to be explored by further studies in larger samples and other contexts.