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Exploration of three stigma scales in 83 users of mental health services: Implications for campaigns to reduce stigma

Background: While research has addressed negative public attitudes which may stigmatize users of psychiatric services, how users themselves perceive, feel and react to stigma has been less well studied. Aims: Given that campaigns to change public attitudes have had limited success, patients themselves might be given counselling and support in coping with potentially stigmatizing interactions. This study aims to explore the use of standardized measures of how users perceive, react to and cope with stigma, in ways which are open to change Methods: The reliability of three adapted American scales measuring how service users perceive and react to public stigma is explored through the responses of 83 current or former users of psychiatric services. Results: Following the establishment of the internal reliability of items in the three scales, it is observed that an important minority of users reacted positively to potential stigma, wishing to confront these stigmatizing attitudes. Conclusions: Ultimately it is changes in feelings of personal stigma by users themselves which should be the most valid indicators of the success or otherwise of expensive public campaigns. Established scales are one way of evaluating whether campaigns against stigma influence how users and former users of mental health services experience such stigma.