Abstract: Reducing Stigma Towards Persons with Severe Mental Illness: Results from a Statewide Training for Probation Officers (Society for Social Work and Research 20th Annual Conference - Grand Challenges for Social Work: Setting a Research Agenda for the Future)

Schedule:

Saturday, January 16, 2016: 11:15 AM

Meeting Room Level-Meeting Room 8 (Renaissance Washington, DC Downtown Hotel)

* noted as presenting author

Nikhil Tomar, MS, Research Assitant, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC

Gary S. Cuddeback, PhD, MSW, MPH, Associate Professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC

Amy Blank Wilson, PhD, Assistant Professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC

Marilyn Ghezzi, MSW, Clinical Assistant Professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC

Tonya VanDeinse, MSW, PhD Candidate, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC

Stacey E. Burgin, MA, Research Associate, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC

Background and Purpose

For persons with mental illness, stigma is a significant barrier to community integration; however, the added stigma associated with criminal justice involvement exacerbates barriers to health and mental health services, and safe housing. Moreover, although largely unexplored, stigma towards persons with mental illness among law enforcement agents could contribute to poor outcomes for justice-involved persons with mental illness. There is evidence that education and training can reduce stigma towards persons with mental illness among police officers; however, evidence that education and training is effective for probation officers does not yet exist. This is of concern given the large and growing numbers of probationers with mental illness. To address this gap in the literature, we report the results of a statewide mental health training program designed to educate probation officers and reduce stigma towards persons with mental illness.

Methods

Web-based mental health training modules were developed by the research team and distributed to 329 probation officers across one southeastern state. The training modules addressed the following topics: (1) brief mental health assessments; (2) mental illness diagnoses and symptoms; (3) medications; (4) PTSD and other disorders; (5) crisis intervention and services; and (6) self-care for probation officers. Prior to starting the first module, officers were given a pretest measure to assess knowledge of mental illness and stigma towards persons with mental illness was assessed in the sample of 329 officers using pre and post-test measures. Knowledge of mental illness was assessed using a 15-item, researcher-developed measure with higher scores indicating greater knowledge. A standardized, 11-item measure of stigma, with a Likert-scale response pattern, was administered with higher scores indicating less stigma towards persons with mental illness. After completing the modules, officers completed posttest assessments. Paired-samples t-tests were used to examine pretest and posttest differences.

Results

At pretest, officers’ demonstrated a high knowledge of mental illness as demonstrated by a mean score of 11.66 (SD=1.96), out of 15. At the completion of the training there was no statistically significant increase (t(232)=-1.55, p=.121), in officers’ knowledge with a mean posttest score of 12.01 (SD=2.69). However, data analyses revealed that pre-training scores were significantly lower than post-training scores on the stigma measure (t(328)=-3.51, p>.001). This indicates that there was significant decrease in stigma towards mental illness among the officers following the training.

Conclusions and Implications

Results suggest that web-based mental health training and education programs can reduce officers’ perceptions of stigma towards persons with mental illness. More research is needed to determine how increased knowledge and decreased stigma impacts recidivism rates among probationers with mental illness. Nevertheless, these findings contribute to our understanding of strategies that have the potential to improve outcomes for justice-involved persons with severe mental illness.