Anticipated Self and Public Stigma in Suicide Prevention Professionals

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Public Health
• Mental Health Research

Background:

• Stigma surrounding mental illness, both public and self-stigma, is a significant barrier to seeking help.
• Mental health professionals, particularly those in suicide prevention, are a neglected group affected by stigma.
• Anticipatory stigma, experienced before an illness or event, is a key focus of this research.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine anticipated public stigma of suicidal behavior and anticipated self-stigma of mental illness among suicide prevention professionals.
• To investigate the relationship between personal experience of mental illness, history of suicidality, and anticipated stigma.
• To predict help-seeking self-stigma based on these anticipated stigma variables.

Main Methods:

• An online survey was administered to 83 participants from the International Association for Suicide Prevention between February and May 2020.
• Ethical approval was obtained from the Commission for Medical Ethics of the Republic of Slovenia.
• Path analysis was used to model the predictors of help-seeking self-stigma.

Main Results:

• Personal experience of mental illness significantly predicted the anticipation of self-stigma (β = 0.26).
• A history of suicidality predicted the anticipation of public stigma related to suicidal behavior (β = 0.29).
• Anticipated self-stigma of mental illness was a stronger predictor of help-seeking self-stigma (β = 0.40) than anticipated public stigma of suicidal behavior (β = 0.07).

Conclusions:

• Suicide prevention professionals require intentional mental health support as they are vulnerable to mental illness and stigma.
• Further research is needed to comprehensively understand stigma within this specialized population due to sample limitations.
• Findings highlight the significant impact of anticipated stigma on help-seeking behaviors among those working in suicide prevention.