Challenging the Stigma of Mental Illness Among College Students.
This study investigated the impact of contact- and education-based antistigma interventions on mental illness stigma, affirming attitudes, discrimination, and treatment seeking among college students.



Data were collected from 198 students of a Chicago University campus in spring of 2014. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: a contact-based antistigma presentation, education-based presentation, or control condition. Measures of stigma, discrimination, affirming attitudes, and treatment seeking were administered at preintervention and postintervention.



A 3 × 2 analysis of variance was completed for each measure to examine condition by trial interactions. Both contact- and education-based interventions demonstrated a significant impact on personal stigma, perceptions of empowerment, discrimination, attitudes towards treatment seeking, and intentions to seek treatment from formal sources. No difference in effect was demonstrated between the contact- and education-based conditions.



These findings suggest that these two approaches should be considered for challenging mental illness stigma among college students.
Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, Texas. Electronic address: kkosyluk@utep.edu.
Kristin A
KA
Kosyluk
Department of Psychology, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, Illinois.
Maya
M
Al-Khouja
Department of Psychology, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, Illinois.
Andrea
A
Bink
Department of Psychology, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, Illinois.
Blythe
B
Buchholz
Department of Psychology, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, Illinois.
Sarah
S
Ellefson
Department of Psychology, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, Illinois.
Konadu
K
Fokuo
Department of Psychology, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, Illinois.
David
D
Goldberg
Department of Psychology, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, Illinois.
Dana
D
Kraus
Department of Psychology, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, Illinois.
Adeline
A
Leon
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Patrick
P
Michaels
Department of Psychology, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, Illinois.
Karina
K
Powell
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Annie
A
Schmidt
Department of Psychology, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, Illinois.
Patrick W
PW
Corrigan
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001294:Attitude to Health; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D057545:Social Stigma; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014495:Universities; D055815:Young Adult
College students; Contact; Education; Mental illness; Stigma