Abstract
Negative attitudes towards people with mental health disorders have been widely studied and identified in the general population, and even within health care professionals. Moreover, studies focused on service users have also identified mental health professionals, including psychiatrists, as a source of stigma. However, in Mexico and Latin America few studies have been conducted addressing this issue. To explore mental health service users’ perceptions of stigma by members of the general population and by psychiatrists in Mexico, service users at a psychiatric hospital in Mexico were invited to participate in either focus groups or individual interviews, which were audio recorded, transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis. A total of 47 service users participated in this study. The results suggested that participants were not only aware of the possible consequences of mental health related stigma, but they have also experienced stigmatisation for having a mental illness. Participants also considered psychiatrists can hold negative attitudes towards people with mental illness, something that can represent a barrier for them to have optimal quality of care. Therefore, participants agreed that these attitudes should be addressed to improve the care they received from these professionals. This study suggests that, like members of the general population, psychiatrists are also considered as a source of stigma by people with mental illness in Mexico. These findings not only add to previous work conducted in Mexico and other countries, they also confirm the importance of addressing negative attitudes in this group of health professionals.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 985-993 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Community Mental Health Journal |
Volume | 57 |
Issue number | 5 |
Early online date | 5 Sept 2020 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Jul 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The Mexican Council of Science and Technology provided funding to ELC, who is the principal author of this review, to study her PhD at King’s College London. GT and CH are currently employed by King’s College London, and although GT and CH have received grants from different organisations, this review was not funded by any external grant.
ELC has a scholarship from the Mexican Council of Science and Technology. CH has received consulting fees from Lundbeck. GT has received grants for stigma-related research in the past five years from the National Institute for Health Research and has acted as a consultant to the UK Office of the Chief Scientist. CH and GT have received grants for the evaluation of Time to Change, which is funded by the UK department of Health, Big Lottery Fund, and Comic Relief. AD, AFO, MJ and JGO declare they have no conflict of interest.
GT is supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care South London at King’s College London NHS Foundation Trust, and the NIHR Asset Global Health Unit award The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care. GT receives support from the National Institute of Mental Health of the National Institutes of Health under award number R01MH100470 (Cobalt study). GT is supported by the UK Medical Research Council in relation the Emilia (MR/S001255/1) and Indigo Partnership (MR/R023697/1) awards.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, The Author(s).
Keywords
- Attitudes
- Discrimination
- Psychiatrists
- Service users
- Stigma
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Health(social science)
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
- Psychiatry and Mental health