Effectiveness of Campaigns on Stigmatizing Attitudes toward Mental Illness

By: Meg DeJong '14

Advising Faculty: Audrey Zakriski

This senior integrative research project with the Holleran Center's Program in Community Action (PICA) aimed to see if five different public service announcements had varied effects on stigmatizing attitudes toward mental illness. A quantitative study was conducted online with just over 100 participants. The results of the study showed that the five public service announcements studied had different effects on overall mental illness stigma and on nine factors related to stigma. Additionally, the results suggested that public service announcements related to mental illness should be careful that they do not endorse that everyone with a mental illness should be able to overcome their illness to function on the same level as (or better than) other people in society.

Related Fields: Holleran Center, Psychology