Abstract
Aims and MethodStigmatised attitudes among the general public towards people with mental illness are one of the main factors delaying such people from seeking treatment, hindering their recovery and rehabilitation. Our aim was to devise a simple motivational interviewing technique to reduce stigmatised attitudes towards people with schizophrenia and substance misuse. We conducted a randomised paired-design trial of 100 adults subjected to a 10 min motivational interview to reduce their stigmatised attitudes; we used the Attitudes to Mental Illness Questionnaire (AMIQ) to measure the effect of the various procedures on stigmatised attitudes.ResultsA small improvement in stigma scores was observed in attitudes towards people with alcoholism but not towards those with schizophrenia.Clinical ImplicationsA brief intervention involving motivational interviewing can be used to challenge the stigma of mental disorders.
Highlights
A brief intervention involving motivational interviewing can be used to challenge the stigma of mental disorders
The 5-item Attitude to Mental Illness Questionnaire (AMIQ) is a brief, self-completion questionnaire with good psychometric properties that can be used in most situations
An improvement in stigma scores was observed in attitudes towards people with alcoholism
Summary
Par tic ip ant sWe recruited the participants from the general population in south Essex by direct mail-shots, newspaper advertisements and word of mouth. The 5-item Attitude to Mental Illness Questionnaire (AMIQ) is a brief, self-completion questionnaire with good psychometric properties that can be used in most situations. The questionnaire was adapted from Cunningham et al 7 and validated in 879 adult volunteers.[8] Respondents were asked to read a short vignette describing an imaginary patient and answer five questions (the questionnaire can be obtained from the authors on request). The individual questions were scored on a 5-point Likert scale (maximum +2, minimum 72; blank questions, ‘neutral’ and ‘don’t know’ were scored 0). The scores for the five questions were added giving a total score for each vignette (between 710 and +10). Test-retest reliability at 2-4 weeks was P = 0.702 (n = 256), construct validity was a = 0.933 (n = 879) and alternate test reliability compared with Corrigan et al’s Attributions Questionnaire[2] was r = 0.704 (n = 102)
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