Reducing stigma toward people with bipolar disorder: impact of a filmed theatrical intervention based on a personal narrative

BACKGROUND

Stigma toward people with bipolar disorder (BD) is pervasive and can have many negative repercussions. Common approaches to stigma reduction include education and intergroup contact. From this perspective, the Collaborative RESearch Team to study psychosocial issues in Bipolar Disorder (CREST.BD) and Canadian Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments (CANMAT) partnered to develop an intervention to combat stigma. The result is a personal narrative intervention that combines contact, education and drama to educate audiences and dispel the myths that drive stigma.

AIM

This study reports on the impact of the CREST.BD-CANMAT stigma-reduction intervention in filmed format.

METHODS

A sample of 137 participants was recruited to view the film, including health-care service providers, university students in a health-care-related course, people with BD and their friends and family members and the general public. Participants were evaluated for stigmatizing attitudes and the desire for social distance before and after the intervention and 1 month later.

RESULTS

For health-care service providers, the intervention was associated with statistically significant improvements in several categories of stigmatizing attitudes, with maintenance 1 month later. The impact was more modest for the other subsamples. Students demonstrated progressive, significant improvements in the desire for (less) social distance. Some improvements were observed among members of the BD community and the general public, but these were limited and eroded over time.

CONCLUSION

This study demonstrated that a filmed dramatic intervention based on the lived experience of BD has statistically significant, sustainable stigma-reduction impacts for health-care service providers and more limited impacts for other target groups. This intervention can be considered an effective tool for use in stigma-reduction campaigns specifically targeting members of the health-care sector. Results are discussed in the context of multi-component stigma-reduction campaigns and the potential needs of target groups.

The effect of parasocial interaction on intention to register as organ donors through entertainment-education programs in Korea

This study is based on the theory of reasoned action and self-efficacy, and it examines the mediating role of attitude, subjective norm, and self-efficacy between parasocial interaction and the intention to donate organs. Judgment sampling was used and 329 respondents were participated in the survey. Participants consisted of 102 males (30.9%) and 227 females (69.1%), and their ages ranged from 13 to 77 years. The Cronbach's α for each scale was .81 for parasocial interaction scale (M = 3.01, SD = 0.55), .89 for attitude scale (M = 4.28, SD = 0.55), .89 for subjective norm (M = 4.28, SD = 0.55), and .76 for self-efficacy (M = 3.31, SD = 0.89). The level of parasocial interaction was found to be significantly associated with attitude and subjective norms that predicted intention to register as organ donors. Although the mediating effect of self-efficacy between parasocial interaction and intention has been proven, self-efficacy showed a conflicting result in the process of model testing in that the level of parasocial interaction affected the degree of subjective norms, which in turn influenced intention by enhancing self-efficacy. The results indicate that parasocial interaction has an indirect effect on intention to register as organ donors through attitude and subjective norms. It is expected that this finding contributes to developing a number of strategies to encourage people's intention to register as organ donors.