Photo Credit: Orawan Wongka
The following is a summary of “How to combat stigma surrounding mental health disorders: a scoping review of the experiences of different stakeholders,” published in the November 2024 issue of Psychiatry by Hajizadeh et al.
Stigma around mental health disorders delays help-seeking, limits access to services and worsens treatment outcomes. It also increases the risk of human rights violations.
Researchers conducted a prospective study to analyze strategies and interventions to combat stigma in mental health disorders.
They conducted a 6-step scoping review using the Arksey and O’Malley framework. A comprehensive search was performed across PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science (WoS), and Google Scholar, along with a manual reference list search. Multiple reviewers independently screened studies, extracted data, and analyzed findings, resolving disagreements through discussion. Data were synthesized following the for-content synthesis guidelines.
The results showed that 25 studies were included from 32,976 citations, covering diverse countries, stigmatized disorders (e.g., schizophrenia, bipolar disorder), and target groups (e.g., patients, families, healthcare providers, general community, students). The synthesis identified 6 intervention types and 17 themes to reduce stigma, categorized by patient (self-stigma), family (family stigma), healthcare professionals, workplace, public/societal, and structural (institutional) stigma.
The study concluded that new evidence should inform future interventions and policies to reduce stigma against MHDs. They emphasized the need for multilevel and multistakeholder strategies.
Source: bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12888-024-06220-1
