AUTHOR=Porfyri Georgia-Nektaria , Athanasiadou Maria , Siokas Vasileios , Giannoglou Sofia , Skarpari Sofia , Kikis Michail , Myroforidou Artemis , Anoixa Maria , Zerakis Nikolaos , Bonti Eleni , Konsta Anastasia , Diakogiannis Ioannis , Rudolf Jobst , Deretzi Georgia 

TITLE=Mental health-related stigma discrimination and prejudices among Greek healthcare professionals

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychiatry

VOLUME=Volume 13 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.1027304

DOI=10.3389/fpsyt.2022.1027304

ISSN=1664-0640

ABSTRACT=Research shows that mental health related stigma, stereotypes and prejudices have a negative impact on the patients themselves as well as on their families and social entourage. Healthcare professionals, whose expertise and professional ethos is historically acknowledged by public opinion, are expected to play a major role in combating discrimination against psychiatric patients. In this study, we aimed to assess the attitudes of Greek healthcare professionals towards mental illness and people suffering from it. It is a non-interventional, analytic study, in which 479 health workers from a tertiary hospital in Thessaloniki, Greece, participated. Every single hospital service –except the personnel of the Psychiatric Clinic– was included in our study, taking into consideration that the psychiatric patient, from the moment he/she enters the hospital, consecutively gets in contact with every work grade of the healthcare establishment. Participants' attitudes concerning mental illness have been evaluated using the Opinions about Mental Illness Scale(OMI), the Social Distance Scale(SDS) and the Level of Contact Report(LCR-12). Despite the high level of familiarity (as evaluated with LCR-12), the employees displayed rather poor willingness to interact with psychiatric patients (as measured with SDS), and endorsed significant prejudice towards individuals with mental disorders (assessed using OMI subscales). Age and education stood out as the main determinants of participants’ attitudes, with younger and highly educated participants to have shown a relatively refined profile. These results are not significantly improved compared to those of previous decades in Greek healthcare professionals and call for critical reflection and targeted stigma-reduction efforts.