title: Reducing stigma toward people with bipolar disorder: impact of a filmed theatrical intervention based on a personal narrative.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Stigma toward people with bipolar disorder (BD) is pervasive and can have many negative repercussions. Common approaches to stigma reduction include education and intergroup contact. From this perspective, the Collaborative RESearch Team to study psychosocial issues in Bipolar Disorder (CREST.BD) and Canadian Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments (CANMAT) partnered to develop an intervention to combat stigma. The result is a personal narrative intervention that combines contact, education and drama to educate audiences and dispel the myths that drive stigma.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study reports on the impact of the CREST.BD-CANMAT stigma-reduction intervention in filmed format.
  
  
  METHODS
  A sample of 137 participants was recruited to view the film, including health-care service providers, university students in a health-care-related course, people with BD and their friends and family members and the general public. Participants were evaluated for stigmatizing attitudes and the desire for social distance before and after the intervention and 1 month later.
  
  
  RESULTS
  For health-care service providers, the intervention was associated with statistically significant improvements in several categories of stigmatizing attitudes, with maintenance 1 month later. The impact was more modest for the other subsamples. Students demonstrated progressive, significant improvements in the desire for (less) social distance. Some improvements were observed among members of the BD community and the general public, but these were limited and eroded over time.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study demonstrated that a filmed dramatic intervention based on the lived experience of BD has statistically significant, sustainable stigma-reduction impacts for health-care service providers and more limited impacts for other target groups. This intervention can be considered an effective tool for use in stigma-reduction campaigns specifically targeting members of the health-care sector. Results are discussed in the context of multi-component stigma-reduction campaigns and the potential needs of target groups.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Université de Saint-Boniface, Winnipeg, MB, Canada lisa.hawke@outlook.com.
authors.forename: Lisa D
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Hawke
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
authors.forename: Erin E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Michalak
authors.affiliation: Crazy for Life Co., Sechelt, BC, Canada.
authors.forename: Victoria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Maxwell
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Sagar V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Parikh
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D004324:Drama; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009726:Nurses / Q000523:psychology; D063545:Personal Narratives as Topic; D011584:Psychology; D013240:Stereotyping; D013336:Students, Health Occupations / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Stigma; bipolar disorder; contact; entertainment–education; film