Abstract
This cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study applied Corrigan, Markowitz, Watson, Rowan, and Kubiak’s (2003) attribution model of public discrimination toward individuals with mental ill-health to explore public perceptions of self-harm—an underresearched topic, given the size and scale of the problem of self-harm.Participants (community-based adult sample, N=355, aged 18–67 years) were presented with 1 of 10, first-person, vignettes describing an episode of adolescent self-harm and completed self-report measures assessing dispositional empathy, familiarity with self-harm (professional; personal), perceived dangerousness, personal responsibility beliefs, emotional responses toward the person depicted in the vignette and helping/rejecting intentions. Vignettes were manipulated across conditions for the controllability of the stated cause (controllable; uncontrollable; unknown), stated motivation for self-harm (intrapersonal; interpersonal; unknown) and presentation format (video; text). Across the sample, attitudes were largely tolerant, with significantly higher levels of sympathetic than fearful or angry responding and significantly higher endorsement of helping responses than avoidance, segregative or coercive approaches. The manipulation of controllability of cause (controllable; uncontrollable), but not stated motivation (intrapersonal; interpersonal), was related to differences in cognitive, emotional or behavioral responding. Taken together, results were largely consistent with the attribution model, suggesting this may be a useful framework for understanding public perceptions of self-harm.
Highlights
This cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study applied Corrigan, Markowitz, Watson, Rowan, and Kubiak’s (2003) attribution model of public discrimination toward individuals with mental ill-health to explore public perceptions of self-harm—an underresearched topic, given the size and scale of the problem of self-harm
Results were largely consistent with the attribution model, suggesting this may be a useful framework for understanding public perceptions of self-harm
While stigma is common in response to a variety of mental health concerns, to date there exists limited empirical data addressing public perceptions of NIELSEN AND TOWNSEND
Summary
This cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study applied Corrigan, Markowitz, Watson, Rowan, and Kubiak’s (2003) attribution model of public discrimination toward individuals with mental ill-health to explore public perceptions of self-harm—an underresearched topic, given the size and scale of the problem of self-harm. Vignettes were manipulated across conditions for the controllability of the stated cause (controllable; uncontrollable; unknown), stated motivation for self-harm (intrapersonal; interpersonal; unknown) and presentation format (video; text). The manipulation of controllability of cause (controllable; uncontrollable), but not stated motivation (intrapersonal; interpersonal), was related to differences in cognitive, emotional or behavioral responding. While stigma is common in response to a variety of mental health concerns (e.g., schizophrenia, depression; Angermeyer, Matschinger, & Corrigan, 2004), to date there exists limited empirical data addressing public perceptions of NIELSEN AND TOWNSEND self-harm. Research from community samples indicates that rates of engagement with emergency medical services are low (Hawton, Rodham, Evans, & Weatherall, 2002; Madge et al, 2008; Whitlock, Eckenrode, & Silverman, 2006)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have