The life goals and opportunities of persons with serious mental illness are significantly impeded by societal stigma and discrimination. Hence, research that better explains the form and structure of stigma, and strategies that diminish its impact, will significantly improve mental health services and outcomes. Social psychologists have more than a 30 year history of theory and methods that examine stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination in social outgroups. The purpose of this RISP is to bridge the goals of research on mental illness stigma with social psychological research lacks ecological validity. Hence, our work will be grounded in basic principles of field research that will enhance the external validity of our stigma studies. A development plan has been generated for RISP junior and senior faculty to enhance their research abilities in this area. Faculty development and RISP pilots are based on four guiding dimensions: (1) experimental rigor versus real-world relevance; (2) individual social cognitive processes versus interaction of processes with power subgroups: (3) examination of stigma phenomenon versus testing stigma strategies; and (4) examining the causal relationship between stigma (attitudes) and discrimination (behavior). Five pilots have been drafted which will serve as a foundation for development efforts and future R01 proposals: (1) Visual versus verbal presentations of mental illness stigma; (2) Professional attitudes about mental illness and mandatory treatment; (3) The impact of stigma across various levels of the legal system; (4) Changing stigma and discrimination through contact; and (5) Media strategies for stigma change.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Resource-Related Research Projects (R24)
Project #
7R24MH062198-05
Application #
6943745
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZMH1-BRB-N (06))
Program Officer
Otey, Emeline M
Project Start
2000-09-30
Project End
2005-08-31
Budget Start
2004-07-01
Budget End
2004-08-31
Support Year
5
Fiscal Year
2003
Total Cost
$96,588
Indirect Cost
Name
Northshore University Healthsystem
Department
Type
DUNS #
069490621
City
Evanston
State
IL
Country
United States
Zip Code
60201
Corrigan, Patrick W (2011) Best practices: Strategic stigma change (SSC): five principles for social marketing campaigns to reduce stigma. Psychiatr Serv 62:824-6
Corrigan, Patrick W; Watson, Amy C (2007) How children stigmatize people with mental illness. Int J Soc Psychiatry 53:526-46
Corrigan, Patrick W; Watson, Amy C (2005) Findings from the National Comorbidity Survey on the frequency of violent behavior in individuals with psychiatric disorders. Psychiatry Res 136:153-62
Luchins, Daniel J; Cooper, Amy E; Hanrahan, Patricia et al. (2004) Psychiatrists' attitudes toward involuntary hospitalization. Psychiatr Serv 55:1058-60
Watson, Amy C; Corrigan, Patrick W; Ottati, Victor (2004) Police responses to persons with mental illness: does the label matter? J Am Acad Psychiatry Law 32:378-85
Corrigan, Patrick W; Markowitz, Fred E; Watson, Amy C (2004) Structural levels of mental illness stigma and discrimination. Schizophr Bull 30:481-91
Corrigan, Patrick W; Watson, Amy C (2004) At issue: Stop the stigma: call mental illness a brain disease. Schizophr Bull 30:477-9
Corrigan, Patrick W (2004) Target-specific stigma change: a strategy for impacting mental illness stigma. Psychiatr Rehabil J 28:113-21
Watson, Amy C; Corrigan, Patrick W; Ottati, Victor (2004) Police officers' attitudes toward and decisions about persons with mental illness. Psychiatr Serv 55:49-53
Corrigan, Patrick W; Watson, Amy C; Ottati, Victor (2003) From whence comes mental illness stigma? Int J Soc Psychiatry 49:142-57

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