Abstract
This Is My Brave (TIMB) is a contact-based mental illness stigma reduction program, set in theaters, meant to reduce stigma, increase beliefs about empowerment and recovery, and improve attitudes towards treatment seeking for mental health concerns. The authors conducted the first empirical evaluation of TIMB using a pre-post survey design. Approximately 481 audience members of TIMB performances were invited to complete a survey of stigmatizing attitudes towards mental illness, beliefs about recovery and empowerment, and willingness to seek treatment at pre-and post-performance. Analyses of responses from 372 participants using paired samples t-tests revealed changes in the desired direction on all variables from pre-test to post-test. Audience members experienced a decrease in stigma, improvements in beliefs about recovery and empowerment, and greater willingness to seek treatment. TIMB is a promising stigma-reduction program and there is a need for a more detailed investigation of the program’s impact using more rigorous methodology.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Angermeyer, M. C., & Dietrich, S. (2006). Public beliefs about and attitudes towards people with mental illness: A review of population studies. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 113(3), 163–179.
Bouman, M. (2002). Turtles and peacocks: Collaboration in entertainment education television. Communication Theory, 12(2), 225–244.
Brodie, M., Foehr, U., Rideout, V., Baer, N., Miller, C., Flournoy, R., & Altman, D. (2001). Communicating health information through the entertainment media: A study of the television drama ER lends support to the notion that Americans pick up information while being entertained. Health Affairs, 20, 192–199.
Corrigan, P. (2004). How stigma interferes with mental health care. American Psychologist, 59(7), 614–625.
Corrigan, P. W., Druss, B. G., & Perlick, D. A. (2014). The impact of mental illness stigma on seeking and participating in mental health care. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 15(2), 37–70.
Corrigan, P. W., Gause, M., Michaels, P. J., Buchholz, B. A., & Larson, J. E. (2015). The California assessment of stigma change: A short battery to measure improvements in the public stigma of mental illness. Community Mental Health Journal, 51(6), 635–640.
Corrigan, P. W., & Kosyluk, K. A. (2014). Mental illness stigma: Types, constructs, and vehicles for change. In P. W. Corrigan (Ed.), The stigma of disease and disability: Understanding causes and overcoming injustices. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Corrigan, P. W., Larson, J. E., & Rüsch, N. (2009). Self-stigma and the “why try” effect: Impact on life goals and evidence-based practices. World Psychiatry, 8(2), 75–81.
Corrigan, P. W., Markowitz, F., Watson, A., Rowan, D., & Kubiak, M. A. (2003). An attribution model of public discrimination towards persons with mental illness. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 44, 162–179.
Corrigan, P. W., Michaels, P. J., Vega, E., Gause, M., Larson, J., Krzyzanowski, R., & Botcheva, L. (2014). Key ingredients to contact-based stigma change: A cross-validation. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, 37(1), 62.
Corrigan, P. W., Morris, S. B., Michaels, P. J., Rafacs, J. D., & Rusch, N. (2012). Challenging the public stigma of mental illness: A meta-analysis of outcome studies. Psychiatric Services, 63, 10.
Corrigan, P. W., Powell, K. J., & Michaels, P. J. (2014). Brief battery for measurement of stigmatizing versus affirming attitudes about mental illness. Psychiatry Research, 215(2), 466–470.
Corrigan, P. W., Vega, E., Larson, J., Michaels, P. J., McClintock, G., Krzyzanowski, R., … Buchholz, B. (2013). The California schedule of key ingredients for contact-based antistigma programs. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, 36(3), 173–179.
Corrigan, P. W., Watson, A. C., Warpinski, A. C., & Gracia, G. (2004). Stigmatizing attitudes about mental illness and allocation of resources to mental health services. Community Mental Health Journal, 40, 297–307.
Crisp, A. H., Gelder, M. G., Rix, S., Meltzer, H. I., & Rowlands, O. J. (2000). Stigmatisation of people with mental illnesses. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 177(1), 4–7.
Henderson, C., Evans-Lacko, S., & Thornicroft, G. (2013). Mental illness stigma, help seeking, and public health programs. American Journal of Public Health, 103(5), 777–780.
Lundberg, B., Lundqvist, P., Hansson, L., Wentz, E., & Sivberg, B. (2013). Experiences of rejection by mental health patients—a qualitative study. Health, 5(10), 1553.
Murphy, S. T., Frank, L. B., Moran, M. B., & Patnoe-Woodley, P. (2011). Involved, transported, or emotional? Exploring the determinants of change in knowledge, attitudes, and behavior in entertainment-education. Journal of Communication, 61(3), 407–431.
Norman, G. (2010). Likert scales, levels of measurement and the “laws” of statistics. Advances in Health Sciences Education, 15(5), 625–632.
Pinfold, V., Thornicroft, G., Huxley, P., & Farmer, P. (2005). Active ingredients in anti-stigma programmes in mental health. International Review of Psychiatry, 17(2), 123–131.
Sartorius, N., & Schulze, H. (2005). Reducing the stigma of mental illness: A report from a global programme of the World Psychiatric Association. Geneva: World Health Organisation.
Singhal, A., & Rogers, E. M. (1999). Entertainment education: A communication strategy for social change. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Valente, T. W., Murphy, S. T., Huang, G., Greene, J., Gusek, J., & Beck, V. (2007). Evaluating a minor storyline on ER about teen obesity, hypertension and 5 a day. Journal of Health Communication, 12(6), 551–566.
Weiner, B. (1986). An attributional theory of achievement motivation and emotion. In An attributional theory of motivation and emotion (pp. 159–190). New York: Springer.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kosyluk, K., Marshall, J., Macias, D.R. et al. Examining the Impact of This Is My Brave on Mental Illness Stigma and Willingness to Seek Help: A Pilot Study. Community Ment Health J 54, 276–281 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-018-0238-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-018-0238-8