, The Psychiatrist 2010 v. 34, p. 318-322
Sabu John Varughese and Jason Luty
Sabu John Varughese is a Staff Grade Psychiatrist (Specialty Doctor) at the Community Drug and Alcohol Service, Thurrock
Jason Luty is a Consultant in Addictions Psychiatry at the South Essex Partnership NHS Trust and also an Honorary Consultant in Addictions Psychiatry at the Cambridge & Peterborough Mental Health NHS Trust.
Abstract:
Aims and method Tackling discrimination, stigma and inequalities in mental health is a major UK government objective yet people with intellectual disabilities continue to suffer serious stigma and discrimination. The project aimed to determine the effect of viewing a picture of a person with intellectual disability on stigmatised attitudes. The 20-point Attitude to Mental Illness Questionnaire (AMIQ) was used and a representative panel of members of the general public were randomised to complete the questionnaire either with (experimental) or without (control) looking at a picture of a man with Down syndrome. Six months later the same experiment was performed with the groups crossed over.
Results Results were received for 360 participants (response rate 87-93%). The sequence (control or experimental) had no significant effect on the outcome. The mean AMIQ score in the control groups was 1.56 (s.d. = 2.85, s.e. = 0.21, n = 186) and in the experiment group (after looking at the pictures) was 2.43 (s.d. = 2.59, s.e. = 0.12, n = 174; median difference 1, P = 0.0016 Mann-Whitney U-test; effect size 0.23).
Clinical implications Looking at a picture of a man with Down syndrome significantly reduces reported stigmatised attitudes.
Lancashire Care staff can request the full-text of this paper, email: susan.jennings@lancashirecare.nhs.uk
Filed under: Equality & Diversity, Learning Disabilities, stigma Tagged: | discrimination, downs syndrome, intellectual disability, Learning Disabilities, mental health, stigma
