ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Mental Health
Impact of an online WHO mental health guideline–based training on stigma and clinical confidence among non-psychiatrist physicians in Mexico: a pre-experimental pilot study
Provisionally accepted
- Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico Facultad de Medicina, Mexico City, Mexico
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Introduction: Mental health is a critical component of overall well-being, and the stigma associated with mental illness often prevents healthcare professionals from providing adequate care. This is a pilot study designed to evaluate the feasibility of an educational intervention and its preliminary effects on stigma associated with mental illness and the subjective assessment of capacity, clinical experience, and perceived limitations in managing mental disorders among non-psychiatrist physicians. Methods: A pre-experimental design was used, including measurements before (Pre), immediately after (Post), and Follow-up at 12 months after the intervention (F-12m). The sample consisted of non-specialist doctors who were invited to a training program of mhGAP and all scheduled assessments. Inclusion criteria were: being an active non-psychiatrist doctor, providing informed consent, and availability to participate in all three phases of the study. The online training program was based on the WHO mhGAP guidelines and it was administered over a period of five weeks in three groups in February, March and August 2023. The instruments used were the Mental Illness Clinician Attitudes (MICA) and the Attitudes, Confidence, and Behavior Questionnaire (ARCBQ), which measures capacity, experience, and limitations perceived in managing patients with mental illness. Results: Of the 69 doctors enrolled, 39 (57%) were drop-outs and 30 (43%) completed the training and all evaluations. The results show a significant decrease in stigma and a notable increase in perceived capacity and clinical experience over time. However, perceived limitations did not change significantly. Conclusion: The intervention has important implications for physician training and suggests the need for a more inclusive and sustainable approach to continuing mental health education. These findings pave the way for future research on the longitudinal impact of such changes and their applicability across diverse cultural and demographic contexts.
Keywords: Mental Health Services, Social Stigma, Clinical Competence, Primary care physicians, Continuing medical education
Received: 01 Sep 2025; Accepted: 24 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Vargas-Huicochea, Rodríguez-Machain and Tafoya. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Ingrid Vargas-Huicochea, ivargas@facmed.unam.mx
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.