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Cultural differences in stigma surrounding schizophrenia: comparison between Central Europe and North Africa
Matthias C Angermeyer1, Mauro G Carta2, Herbert Matschinger2
1Matthias C. Angermeyer, MD, Center for Public Mental Health, Gösing am Wagram, Austria and Department of Public Health and Clinical and Molecular Medicine, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy; Mauro G. Carta, MD, Department of Public Health and Clinical and Molecular Medicine, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy; Herbert Matschinger, PhD, Institute of Social Medicine, Occupational Health and Public Health, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany and Institute of Health Economics and Health Services Research, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany; Aurélie Millier, PhD, Creativ-Ceutical, Paris, France; Tarek Refaï, PhD, Creativ-Ceutical, Les Berges du lac, Tunisia; Georg Schomerus, MD, Department of Psychiatry, Ernst Moritz Arndt University Greifswald and HELIOS Hanseklinikum Stralsund, Stralsund, Germany; Mondher Toumi, PhD, University of Lyon I, Villeurbane, France angermeyer@aon.at.
Background:
Exploring cultural differences may improve understanding about the social processes underlying the stigmatisation of people with mental illness.
Aims:
To compare public beliefs and attitudes about schizophrenia in Central Europe and North Africa.
Method:
Representative national population surveys conducted in Germany (2011) and in Tunisia (2012), using the same interview mode (face to face) and the same fully structured interview.
Results:
In Tunisia, respondents showed a stronger tendency to hold the person with schizophrenia responsible for the condition. At the same time they expressed more prosocial reactions and less fear than their German counterparts. In Germany, the desire for social distance was greater for more distant relationships, whereas in Tunisia this was the case for close, family-related relationships.
Conclusions:
Stigma differs between Tunisia and Germany more in form than in magnitude. It manifests particularly in those social roles which 'matter most' to people within a given culture.
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