Stigma towards borderline personality disorder: effectiveness and generalizability of an anti-stigma program for healthcare providers using a pre-post randomized design.

Background: Stigmatization among healthcare providers towards mental illnesses can present obstacles to effective caregiving. This may be especially the case for borderline personality disorder (BPD). Our study measured the impact of a three hour workshop on BPD and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) on attitudes and behavioral intentions of healthcare providers towards persons with BPD as well as mental illness more generally.

Opening minds in Canada: background and rationale.

Objective: To summarize the background and rationale of the approach taken by the Mental Health Commission of Canada's Opening Minds (OM) Anti-Stigma Initiative.

Method: The approach taken by OM incorporates a grassroots, community development philosophy, has clearly defined target groups, uses contact-based education as the central organizing element across interventions, and has a strong evaluative component, so that best practices can be identified, replicated, and disseminated. Contact-based education occurs when people who have experienced a mental illness share their personal story of recovery and hope.

Stigma in Canada: results from a rapid response survey.

Objective: Our paper presents findings from the first population survey of stigma in Canada using a new measure of stigma. Empirical objectives are to provide a descriptive profile of Canadian's expectations that people will devalue and discriminate against someone with depression, and to explore the relation between experiences of being stigmatized in the year prior to the survey among people having been treated for a mental illness with a selected number of sociodemographic and mental health-related variables.

Method: Data were collected by Statistics Canada using a rapid response format on a representative sample of Canadians (n = 10 389) during May and June of 2010.

Key ingredients of anti-stigma programs for health care providers: a data synthesis of evaluative studies.

Objective: As part of its ongoing effort to combat stigma against mental illness among health care providers, the Mental Health Commission of Canada partnered with organizations conducting anti-stigma interventions. Our objective was to evaluate program effectiveness and to better understand what makes some programs more effective than others. Our paper reports the elements of these programs found to be most strongly associated with favourable outcomes.

Opening minds in Canada: targeting change.

Objective: To summarize the ongoing activities of the Opening Minds (OM) Anti-Stigma Initiative of the Mental Health Commission of Canada regarding the 4 groups targeted (youth, health care providers, media, and workplaces), highlight some of the key methodological challenges, and review lessons learned.

Method: The approach used by OM is rooted in community development philosophy, with clearly defined target groups, contact-based education as the central organizing element across interventions, and a strong evaluative component so that best practices can be identified, replicated, and disseminated. Contact-based education occurs when people who have experienced a mental illness share their personal story of recovery and hope.

Opening Minds Stigma Scale for Health Care Providers (OMS-HC): examination of psychometric properties and responsiveness.

Background: Diminishing stigmatization for those with mental illnesses by health care providers (HCPs) is becoming a priority for programming and policy, as well as research. In order to be successful, we must accurately measure stigmatizing attitudes and behaviours among HCPs. The Opening Minds Stigma Scale for Health Care Providers (OMS-HC) was developed to measure stigma in HCP populations.

Reducing the stigma of mental illness in undergraduate medical education: a randomized controlled trial.

Background: The stigma of mental illness among medical students is a prevalent concern that has far reaching negative consequences. Attempts to combat this stigma through educational initiatives have had mixed results. This study examined the impact of a one-time contact-based educational intervention on the stigma of mental illness among medical students and compared this with a multimodal undergraduate psychiatry course at the University of Calgary, Canada that integrates contact-based educational strategies.

Effectiveness of contact-based education for reducing mental illness-related stigma in pharmacy students.

Background: A strategy for reducing mental illness-related stigma in health-profession students is to include contact-based sessions in their educational curricula. In such sessions students are able to interact socially with a person that has a mental illness. We sought to evaluate the effectiveness of this strategy in a multi-centre study of pharmacy students.

The development and psychometric properties of a new scale to measure mental illness related stigma by health care providers: the Opening Minds Scale for Health Care Providers (OMS-HC).

Background: Research on the attitudes of health care providers towards people with mental illness has repeatedly shown that they may be stigmatizing. Many scales used to measure attitudes towards people with mental illness that exist today are not adequate because they do not have items that relate specifically to the role of the health care provider.

Methods: We developed and tested a new scale called the Opening Minds Scale for Health Care Providers (OMS-HC).

A population-based longitudinal community study of major depression and migraine.

Objective: To examine whether major depressive episodes (MDEs) are associated with an increased risk of migraine in the general population and to examine whether migraine is associated with an increase risk of MDE.

Background: Population-based cross-sectional studies have consistently reported an association between migraine and depression. However, longitudinal studies about this potentially bidirectional association are inconsistent.

Major depression as a risk factor for chronic disease incidence: longitudinal analyses in a general population cohort.

Objective: Cross-sectional studies have consistently reported associations between major depression (MD) and chronic medical conditions. Such studies cannot clarify whether medical conditions increase the risk for MD or vice versa. The latter possibility has received relatively little attention in the literature.