The Effectiveness of Two Potential Mass Media Interventions on Stigma: Video-Recorded Social Contact and Audio/Visual Simulations

Reducing Stigma Toward People with Serious Mental Illness Through a Virtual Reality Intervention: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Background: Stigma toward people with serious mental illnesses (SMI), like schizophrenia, is a serious global public health challenge that limits the quality of life of those affected and poses a major barrier that keeps people from seeking professional help. There is an urgent need for novel, effective, and scalable interventions to decrease stigmatized perceptions of chronic psychotic disorders and to reduce the health burden imposed by them. Method: We conducted a randomized controlled trial to assess the impact of a new immersive virtual reality game (Inclúyete-VR) on the level of stigma toward people with SMI, measured by the Attribution questionnaire (AQ-27). Participants in the experimental group were exposed in an immersive way to hallucinations common in schizophrenia, then shown different psychosocial resources available for their recovery and social inclusion; those in the control group used VR software unrelated to mental health. VR sessions were delivered through Oculus headgear and lasted 25 minutes. Results: We randomly assigned 124 university students (55% female) to experimental or control conditions (n = 62 each). We used mixed ANOVA to compare outcomes before and after the intervention between the two groups. We found a significant intervention-by-time interaction (P < 0.001), with a reduction in the experimental group of overall stigma levels on the AQ-27 scale and its three subscales: dangerousness-fear, avoidance, and lack of solidarity (P < 0.001 for all). Conclusions: The Inclúyete-VR software proved effective in the short term in reducing stigma toward people with severe mental illness. The program's longer-term efficacy, scalability, and dissemination remain to be studied. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT05393596.

Reducing public stigma toward individuals with psychosis across race and gender: A randomized controlled trial of young adults

BACKGROUND

Social contact-based interventions effectively reduce stigma toward psychosis. We recently demonstrated the efficacy of a 90-second video intervention in reducing stigma. The current randomized controlled study presents four briefer videos differing in presenter's gender/race, with baseline, postintervention, and 30-day follow-up assessments. The study replicates previous findings and examine whether concordance of presenter's and viewer's race/gender enhanced the anti-stigma effect.

METHODS

Using a crowdsourcing platform, we recruited 1993 participants ages 18-35 years to one of four brief video-based interventions (Black/White female, Black/White male presenters) or a nonintervention control condition. In the videos, a young presenter with psychosis humanized their illness through an evocative description of living a meaningful and productive life.

RESULTS

Group-by-time ANOVA showed a significant group-by-time interaction for the total score of all five stigma domains: social distance, stereotyping, separateness, social restriction, and perceived recovery. One-way ANOVA showed greater reductions in video intervention groups than control at post-intervention and 30-day follow-up, but no differences between video groups. Matching race/gender did not further reduce stigma.

CONCLUSIONS

This randomized controlled study replicated and extended previous research findings, by showing stigma reduction across videos that differ in the presenter's gender and race, thus enhancing generalizability. The videos described the experience of psychosis and reduced stigma, suggesting their potential utility on social media platforms to increase the likelihood of seeking services and ultimately may improve access to care among young individuals with psychosis. Future research should address intersectional stigma experiences by focusing on race/gender and culturally tailoring the narrative.

Innovative Technology-Based Interventions to Reduce Stigma Toward People With Mental Illness: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. (Preprint)

Background

Stigma toward people with mental illness presents serious consequences for the impacted individuals, such as social exclusion and increased difficulties in the recovery process. Recently, several interventions have been developed to mitigate public stigma, based on the use of innovative technologies, such as virtual reality and video games.

Objective

This review aims to systematically review, synthesize, measure, and critically discuss experimental studies that measure the effect of technological interventions on stigmatization levels.

Methods

This systematic review and meta-analysis was based on PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses) guidelines and included studies in English and Spanish published between 2016 and 2021. Searches were run in 5 different databases (ie, PubMed, PsycInfo, Scopus, Cochrane Library, and ScienceDirect). Only randomized controlled trials were included. Two independent reviewers determined the eligibility, extracted data, and rated methodological quality of the studies. Meta-analyses were performed using the Comprehensive Meta-Analysis software.

Results

Based on the 1158 articles screened, 72 articles were evaluated as full text, of which 9 were included in the qualitative and quantitative syntheses. A diversity of interventions was observed, including video games, audiovisual simulation of hallucinations, virtual reality, and electronic contact with mental health services users. The meta-analysis (n=1832 participants) demonstrated that these interventions had a consistent medium effect on reducing the level of public stigma (d=–0.64; 95% CI 0.31-0.96; P<.001).

Conclusions

Innovative interventions involving the use of technologies are an effective tool in stigma reduction, therefore new challenges are proposed and discussed for the demonstration of their adaptability to different contexts and countries, thus leading to their massification.

Trial Registration

PROSPERO International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews CRD42021261935; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42021261935

Effects of online stigma-reduction programme for people experiencing mental health conditions: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Despite the increased awareness of mental health-related issues, people experiencing mental health conditions have continued to face stigmatization worldwide. The literature on help-seeking behaviours has frequently highlighted the development of self-stigma because of public stigma and emphasized the need to address public stigmatization faced by them. Given the increasing acceptance of digital services in recent years, this systematic review aimed to examine the effects of online and face-to-face anti-stigma interventions in reducing public stigma towards people experiencing mental health conditions. A search was conducted on the Cochrane Library, CINAHL, PubMed, Embase, PsycInfo, and ProQuest from inception of the databases to October 2020. Studies were included in this review if they have explored: (i) public stigmatization towards people of all ages with different types of mental health conditions; (ii) online interventions; and (iii) face-to-face interventions. Nine studies were included in this review, of which only five were included in the meta-analysis as the remaining four had incomplete data. The meta-analysis included an aggregate of 1203 participants while the four excluded studies included 713 participants. Results revealed that online interventions performed favourably with small effect sizes in comparison to face-to-face, wait-list control, and no-intervention groups. Results from the studies excluded from the meta-analysis also found a significant reduction of public stigmatization with online interventions. Such findings provide insightful evidence for the effectiveness of online interventions in reducing public stigmatization. Hence, mental health organizations and groups can consider adopting online interventions suitable for their target audience and type of mental health conditions.

Sustained Effect of a Brief Video in Reducing Public Stigma Toward Individuals With Psychosis: A Randomized Controlled Trial of Young Adults

OBJECTIVE

Public stigma is a barrier to care and increases the duration of untreated psychosis among individuals with first-episode psychosis. The authors recently demonstrated the efficacy of a 90-second social contact-based video intervention in reducing such stigma. That proof-of-concept study was the first to employ so brief an antistigma intervention in a sample of young adults. The authors now present a randomized controlled replication study with baseline, postintervention, and 30-day follow-up assessments. The authors aimed to replicate their previous findings and to show a persisting benefit for the video intervention.

METHODS

Using a crowdsourcing platform (Amazon Mechanical Turk), the authors recruited and assigned 1,055 participants ages 18-30 years to a brief video-based intervention, to a written vignette intervention containing the same material, or to a nonintervention control condition. In the 90-second video, a 22-year-old African American woman with schizophrenia humanized the illness through her emotional description of living a meaningful and productive life.

RESULTS

A three-by-three group-by-time multivariate analysis of variance showed a significant group-by-time interaction for the total scores of all five stigma-related domains: social distance, stereotyping, separateness, social restriction, and perceived recovery. Post hoc pairwise tests showed greater reductions in the video group compared with the vignette and control groups at the postintervention and 30-day follow-up assessments, while the vignette group differed from the control group at the postintervention assessment but not at the 30-day assessment.

CONCLUSIONS

This randomized controlled study replicated and strengthened the authors' earlier findings, further showing month-long sustained stigma reduction in the social contact-based video intervention arm. A 90-second video sufficed to humanize schizophrenia and reduce stigma. Further research should examine longer-term sustainability, assess changes in behavior, and determine optimal effective video length.

Reducing Stigma Toward Individuals With Schizophrenia Using a Brief Video: A Randomized Controlled Trial of Young Adults

OBJECTIVE

Stigma decreases healthcare seeking and treatment adherence and increases the duration of untreated psychosis among people with first-episode psychosis (FEP). This study evaluated the efficacy of a brief video-based intervention in reducing stigma among youth toward individuals with FEP and schizophrenia. We hypothesized that the social-contact-based video intervention group would reduce stigma more than written vignette and control groups, and the vignette more than the control group.

METHODS

Using Amazon Mechanical Turk, we recruited and assigned 1203 individuals aged 18-30 to either (a) video intervention, (b) written description of the same content ("vignette"), or (c) nonintervention control arm. In the 90-second video intervention, an empowered young woman with schizophrenia described her FEP and the aspects of successful coping with her everyday life difficulties, exposing the viewer to schizophrenia in the context of her personal narrative. Web-based self-report questionnaires assessed stigma domains, including social distance, stereotyping, separateness, social restriction, and perceived recovery.

RESULTS

A MANOVA showed a significant between-group effects for all 5 stigma-related subscales (P < .001). Post hoc pairwise tests showed significant differences between video and vignette vs control for all 5 stigma domains. Video and vignette groups differed significantly on social distance, stereotyping, and social restriction. Secondary analyses revealed gender differences across stigma domains in the video group only, with women reporting lower stigma.

CONCLUSIONS

A very brief social contact-based video intervention efficaciously reduced stigma toward individuals with FEP. This is the first study to demonstrate such an effect. Further research should examine its long-term sustainability.