title: Intervention for reducing stigma: Assessing the influence of gender and knowledge.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the effectiveness in reducing social stigma of an intervention and to assess the influence of gender and knowledge.
  
  
  METHODS
  The program consisted in providing information and contact with users of mental health in order to reduce social stigma in the school environment. A total of 62 secondary school students (age 14-16 years) were evaluated with the Opinions on Mental Illness (OMI) questionnaire before and after the intervention. The subscales of the OMI were: authoritarianism, interpersonal etiology, benevolence, restrictiveness and negativism. The analysis was performed over the total sample, separating by gender and knowledge of someone with a mental disorder. t-test for repeated measures was used in the statistical analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All the OMI subscales showed a significant change after the intervention (P < 0.001), except for benevolence. Women presented significant changes in the subscales of authoritarianism and restrictiveness, while men presented changes in negativism and interpersonal etiology rather than restrictiveness (P < 0.001-0.003). Students that knew someone with a mental disorder presented significant changes in authoritarianism, interpersonal etiology, and negativism (P < 0.001-0.003) and students that do not know anyone with a mental disorder improved in restrictiveness and authoritarianism (P < 0.001-0.001). In all the subscales of the instrument the students improved their perception of mental disorders, reducing their levels of stigma.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The intervention designed to reduce social stigma was effective, especially in the area of authoritarianism. The whole sample showed improved attitudes towards mental illness, although the areas were different depending on gender and knowledge.
authors.affiliation: Francisco Martínez-Zambrano, Esther García-Morales, Mar García-Franco, Raul Villellas, Psychosocial Rehabilitation Service El Prat, Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu, El Prat de Llobregat, 08918 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Martínez-Zambrano
authors.forename: Esther
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: García-Morales
authors.forename: Mar
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: García-Franco
authors.forename: Jose
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Miguel
authors.forename: Raul
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Villellas
authors.forename: Gemma
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pascual
authors.forename: Otilia
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Arenas
authors.forename: Susana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ochoa
keywords: Contact; Information; Intervention; Mental disorders; Schizophrenia; Schools; Stigma