RISP: STIGMA AND MENTAL ILLNESS

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DESCRIPTION (Applicant's Abstract): The life goals and opportunities of persons with serious mental illness are significantly impeded by societal stigma and discrimination. Hence, research that better explains the form and structure of stigma, and strategies that diminish its impact, will significantly improve mental health services and outcomes. Social psychologists have more than a 30 year history of theory and methods that examine stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination in social outgroups. The purpose of this RISP is to bridge the goals of research on mental illness stigma with social psychological research lacks ecological validity. Hence, our work will be grounded in basic principles of field research that will enhance the external validity of our stigma studies. A development plan has been generated for RISP junior and senior faculty to enhance their research abilities in this area. Faculty development and RISP pilots are based on four guiding dimensions: (1) experimental rigor versus real-world relevance; (2) individual social cognitive processes versus interaction of processes with power subgroups: (3) examination of stigma phenomenon versus testing stigma strategies; and (4) examining the causal relationship between stigma (attitudes) and discrimination (behavior). Five pilots have been drafted which will serve as a foundation for development efforts and future R01 proposals: (1) Visual versus verbal presentations of mental illness stigma; (2) Professional attitudes about mental illness and mandatory treatment; (3) The impact of stigma across various levels of the legal system; (4) Changing stigma and discrimination through contact; and (5) Media strategies for stigma change.