Increasing Awareness of Mental Health Stigma Among Acute Care Nurses

Mental illness is an increasingly prevalent health concern with 1 in 5 adults in the United States experiencing some form of mental illness each year. Stigma is often associated with mental illness and creates a barrier for attaining quality care and it can negatively impact readmission and recovery rates. Stigma has several sources and is associated with negative health outcomes. Individuals living with or experiencing mental illness often report stigma in terms of feeling dismissed and devalued by several of the healthcare professionals they encounter. Effective anti-stigma training for health providers can increase awareness of the beliefs and behaviors that have contributed to stigma and can begin positive changes for their interactions with patients. The project aimed to increase awareness of stigma associated with mental illness through a health education session for eight acute care nurses. Current attitudes of mental illness among acute care nurses were assessed using the Mental Illness Clinicians Attitudes version 4 scale (MICA v4). An educational session with discussion, self-reflection and role-play was implemented. A post MICA v4 scale was given after the implementation to assess a change in attitudes. A Wilcoxon Signed-Rank test showed a significant difference in pre and post-test MICAv4 scores following the educational intervention. Participants' feedback showed satisfaction that, in general, the educational intervention was successful in achieving its goals. An educational intervention can be successful in increasing awareness of stigma among nurses in the acute care nursing population. Further study is needed to evaluate if this intervention would be as successful with a larger population of acute care nurses or other populations of health care professionals.