title: Measuring the stigma of psychiatry and psychiatrists: development of a questionnaire.
abstract: The stigma of mental illness is a severe burden for people suffering from mental illness both in private and public life, also affecting their relatives, their close social network, and the mental health care system in terms of disciplines, providers, and institutions. Interventions against the stigma of mental illness employ complementary strategies (e.g., protest, education, and contact) and address different target groups (e.g., school children and teachers, journalists, stakeholders). Within this framework, the World Psychiatric Association has adopted an Action Plan with the goal to improve the image of psychiatry and to reduce potential stigmatizing attitudes toward psychiatry and psychiatrists. To evaluate such interventions, a questionnaire has been developed that assesses opinions and attitudes toward psychiatrists and psychiatry in different samples of medical specialists (psychiatrists and general practitioners). The questionnaire comprises scales about perceived stigma in terms of the perception of societal stereotypes, self-stigma in terms of stereotype agreement, perceived stigma in terms of structural discriminations, discrimination experiences, stigma outcomes, and attitudes toward a second medical discipline. It is available in several languages (Arab, English, German, Japanese, Polish, and Spanish) and can easily be adapted for utilization in other medical specialties.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical Faculty, Heinrich-Heine-University, Duesseldorf, Germany. wolfgang.gaebel@uni-duesseldorf.de
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Gaebel
authors.forename: Harald
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zäske
authors.forename: Helen-Rose
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Cleveland
authors.forename: Jürgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zielasek
authors.forename: Heather
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Stuart
authors.forename: Julio
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Arboleda-Florez
authors.forename: Tsuyoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Akiyama
authors.forename: Oye
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Gureje
authors.forename: Miguel R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Jorge
authors.forename: Marianne
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kastrup
authors.forename: Yuriko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Allan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tasman
authors.forename: Norman
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sartorius
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002321:Career Choice; D006801:Humans; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology*; D011570:Psychiatry; D012955:Societies, Medical / Q000458:organization & administration; D013240:Stereotyping; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D000078329:Workforce