Effectiveness of an intervention for reducing social stigma towards mental illness in adolescents
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Updated: Mar 18, 2026

A Modified Trier Social Stress Test for Vulnerable Mexican American Adolescents
Published on: July 10, 2017
Regina Vila-Badia1, Francisco Martínez-Zambrano1, Otilia Arenas1
1Regina Vila-Badia, Francisco Martínez-Zambrano, Otilia Arenas, Emma Casas-Anguera, Esther García-Morales, Raúl Villellas, José Ramón Martín, María Belén Pérez-Franco, Tamara Valduciel, Diana Casellas, Mar García-Franco, Jose Miguel, Joaquim Balsera, Gemma Pascual, Eugènia Julia, Susana Ochoa, Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu, CIBERSAM, 08830 Sant Boi de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain.
Aim:
To evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention for reducing social stigma towards mental illness in adolescents. The effect of gender and knowledge of someone with mental illness was measured.
Methods:
Two hundred and eighty secondary school students were evaluated using the Community Attitudes towards Mental Illness (CAMI) questionnaire. The schools were randomized and some received the intervention and others acted as the control group. The programme consisted of providing information via a documentary film and of contact with healthcare staff in order to reduce the social stigma within the school environment.
Results:
The intervention was effective in reducing the CAMI authoritarianism and social restrictiveness subscales. The intervention showed significant changes in girls in terms of authoritarianism and social restrictiveness, while boys only showed significant changes in authoritarianism. Following the intervention, a significant reduction was found in authoritarianism and social restrictiveness in those who knew someone with mental illness, and only in authoritarianism in those who did not know anyone with mental illness.
Conclusion:
The intervention was effective to reduce social stigma towards people with mental illness, especially in the area of authoritarianism. Some differences were found depending on gender and whether or not the subjects knew someone with mental illness.
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