Abstract
For the past 15 years, a regular indoor football competition has been taking place in Madrid (Spain) with 15 teams from different mental health services in the city, in which teams face off weekly as part of a competition lasting nine months of the year. We are not aware of whether a similar competition experience is offered in other cities. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate whether participating in this league, called Ligasame, has an influence on participants’ self-stigma. To do so, the Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness scale (ISMI) was adapted into Spanish and applied to 108 mental health patients, 40% of which participated in Ligasame, and the remainder of which did not. The results obtained reflect significant differences between those participating in Ligasame and those that did not in terms of two specific dimensions related to self-stigma (stereotype endorsement and stigma resistance) and total score. On the other hand, no significant differences were found in terms of other variables, such as patients’ prior diagnosis, age or belonging to different resources/associations. In this article, we discuss the importance of these results in relation to reducing self-stigma through participation in a regular yearly mental health football league.
Highlights
IntroductionThe fact that people with severe mental illness (hereinafter referred to as ‘SMI’) are one of the most socially stigmatized groups has been widely documented [1,2]
The fact that people with severe mental illness are one of the most socially stigmatized groups has been widely documented [1,2]
We discuss the importance of these results in relation to reducing self-stigma through participation in a regular yearly mental health football league
Summary
The fact that people with severe mental illness (hereinafter referred to as ‘SMI’) are one of the most socially stigmatized groups has been widely documented [1,2]. Stigma itself has been described as a ‘second illness’ [8,9]. The consequences of this prejudice and the negative effect it has on the individual’s psychological well-being can be long-lasting, even after the remission of psychiatric symptoms [10]. People within this group tend to be reluctant to seek out mental health services [11], and generally experience poorer-quality medical care compared to the population that with no such diagnosis [12]
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