Effect of Biogenetic Causal Explanation and Familiarity with Mental Illness on Social Distance toward Persons with Mental Disorders

Effect of direct and indirect contact with mental illness on dangerousness and social distance

BACKGROUND

This study is based on the contact hypothesis that contact with mental illness is the most effective anti-stigma strategy.

AIMS

This study aims to analyze which form of contact can most effectively decrease the dangerousness and social distance associated with schizophrenia, depression and alcoholism.

METHOD

In total, 573 Korean adults ( M_age = 43.71 years, standard deviation ( SD) = 13.41; 54.1% male, 45.9% female) were surveyed about randomly assigned vignettes of schizophrenia, depression and alcoholism. The participants were questioned on the dangerousness and social distance associated with the assigned vignette, as well as direct and indirect contact experience with the mental illness. Two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine the main effect and interaction effect that the type of mental illness and contact experience have on the two dependent variables (dangerousness and social distance).

RESULTS

The findings show that the type of mental illness has a significant main effect on dangerousness and social distance, but contact type only has a significant main effect on social distance. Moreover, the two independent variables (mental illness subtype and contact experience) have an interaction effect on two dependent variables (dangerousness and social distance). Therefore, the anti-stigma effect of contact varies according to the type of mental illness.

CONCLUSION

Our findings suggest that appropriate anti-stigma strategies are required for each type of mental illness. Considering that opportunities for direct contact with persons with mental illness are highly limited, it is necessary to actively utilize indirect contact.

[Development of a measurement of stress for hospitalized schizophrenic patient]

PURPOSE

This study was done to develop a measurement for stress experienced by patients with schizophrenia during hospitalization.

METHODS

The preliminary tool was developed through in-depth interviews and a validity verification test of content. For data collection, 15 inpatients with schizophrenia were selected as participants for in-depth interviews and 195 patients admitted to one of eight psychiatric hospitals in four provinces were recruited as participants to test reliability and validity of the preliminary tool.

RESULTS

The questionnaire was developed as a four-point Likert-type scale in a self-report form with 28 items. Factor analysis showed 28 items in six factors. Factors were named 'Unjust human rights infringement', 'Futureless life', 'Alienation from other family members', 'Infringement of basic needs', 'Infringement of personal preference' and 'Inconvenience of shared living'. The six factors explained 63.5% of the total variance. Cronbach's alpha for the total items was .93 and for the factors ranged from .65 to .87.

CONCLUSION

A tool to measure stress in patients hospitalized with schizophrenic was developed based on identified hospitalization stress experiences. Study results indicate that this tool can be used to evaluate hospitalization stress in these patients and will contribute to establishing nursing interventions for relief of hospitalization stress.