Mental illness stigma is a crucial public health problem in our society today. Effective anti-stigma interventions can help improve the lives of individuals suffering from mental health problems (Mannarini & Rossi, 2019). However, most of the implemented interventions have not yielded long lasting impact and are not effective in addressing the problem. Although public knowledge on mental illness is perceived to be of benefit it is in most cases disregarded. As a result, most people suffering from mental illness are not given proper social support because of lack of awareness in the society.
Despite the fact that knowledge of mental illness has increased, existing evidence shows that the society still sees mentally ill pateinst as dangerous and as a result is still stigmatized (Mannarini & Rossi, 2019). Mass social contact remains one of the under studied interventions that can be effective in addressing the problem of stigma towards mentally ill people. A research topic on the impact and effectiveness of mass social contact in reducing mental illness stigma was chosen because the existing body of knowledge on the topic is not wide and it is an intervention that is promising in addressing the problem of stigma in mental illness.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Awareness campaigns and education have been used and none of them has been able to address the problem. People still fear mentally ill patients and as a result, those suffering from the illness are stigmatized and they also avoid seeking treatment for fear of stigmatization not only by community members but by health professionals also (Mannarini & Rossi, 2019). The intervention involves social contact between people suffering from mental illness and those without the illness.
The aim of the proposed topic will be to identify if mass social contact is effective in reducing social stigma towards mentally ill people. The topic is socially significant because it address a problem that has been rampant in our society for a long time and effective interventions are yet to be identified in order to ensure that mentally ill people live better lives.
Reference
Mannarini, S., & Rossi, A. (2019). Assessing Mental Illness Stigma: A Complex Issue. Frontiers in Psychology , 9 . doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02722
