Decreasing the Stigma of Mental Illness Among Health Science Students Through a Mentoring Program

Stigma towards people with mental health problems is a serious public health problem that limits access to treatment and social participation, in addition to being considered the main barrier to inclusion and quality of health care. This stigma also affects students and health professionals, impacting the quality of care and help seeking in mental health. In this context, it is necessary to develop innovative and effective interventions among university students to reduce this stigma and promote an inclusive and recovery-based approach.

The aim of the present research project is to analyze the effect of a mentoring program on levels of stigma and mental health help-seeking intention in psychology and nursing students. This three-session mentoring program is based on experiential learning and has been validated and adapted to our country. The mentors, professionals with lived experience in mental health, will provide knowledge and experiences to the students through direct contact sessions in the classroom, focusing especially on the processes of recovery and self-determination.

Research question: What is the effect of a mentoring program on levels of stigma and mental health help-seeking intention in health care students?

Within the dependent variables of the study are the measurement of levels of stigma and mental health help-seeking intention in students. The independent variables will be the type of group (experimental and control), age, gender and career.

Methodology: Quantitative study, including the participation of health students in the experimental and control groups. The sample size was determined using the G*Power software. After approval by the institutional ethics committee and signature of the informed consent of the participants, the mentoring program will be implemented in the classroom. For this purpose, the levels of stigma and intention to seek mental health help in both groups will be measured using nationally and internationally validated instruments, before, after and at 4 weeks. Data analysis will be performed using a mixed ANOVA model to compare pre- and post-intervention outcomes between the two groups.

The present study will provide valuable evidence on the effectiveness of mentoring-based interventions in reducing stigma in health care students, a key group in the future provision of care for people with mental health problems. The results will also lay the groundwork for larger-scale studies to assess the impact of the intervention in other groups and settings, with the potential to significantly improve the quality of care and well-being of patients and their families.

Study Overview

• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Conditions: Social Stigma
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Control (placebo) group; Behavioral: Mentoring program

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 102
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Matías E. Rodríguez-Rivas, PhD, MSc, RN.; Phone Number: (+56 2) 2327 9110; Email: matrodriguezr@udd.cl

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• University students from health careers
• Sign the informed consent form.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Be under 18 years of age.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Control group; No intervention group	Behavioral: Control (placebo) group; This group will not receive any intervention. However, they will be invited to participate in stigma education after the study is completed.
Experimental: Experimental group; Intervention group. In detail, the intervention has a total of 3 participatory sessions via videoconference, with an average duration of 90 minutes per session, with a maximum number of 3 to 4 students per mentor. Each session is accompanied by a reflective log of the activities and observations made by the students of an evaluated nature, as well as reading prior to session n°1 and n°2. In addition, the anonymous evaluation of the level of stigma before and after the implementation, both in the group of students and mentors, is included, as well as a follow-up of the measurements regarding these evaluations. At the professional level, a 6-hour pedagogical intervention focused on stigma reduction for the training of health students towards people with psychiatric illnesses will be provided to all health professionals involved, with a certificate of participation delivered at the end of the sessions. The sessions must have minimum material implements such as an equipped classroom, proj	Behavioral: Mentoring program; This three-session mentoring program is based on experiential learning and has been validated and adapted to our country. The mentors, professionals with lived experience in mental health, will provide knowledge and experiences to the students through direct contact sessions in the classroom, focusing especially on the processes of recovery and self-determination.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Attribution Questionnaire (AQ-27)	This 27-item, 9-factor instrument has been widely used to measure levels of stigma towards people with mental health problems in the general population and university students nationally and globally. It presents a vignette of a case of a person diagnosed with schizophrenia, where various stereotypes, prejudices and behaviors around him are assessed and measured (anger, pity, dangerousness, fear, avoidance, guilt, segregation and coercion). The instrument uses a 9-point Likert-type response scale, where higher scores represent higher levels of stigma. Specifically, its Spanish version has demonstrated adequate psychometric properties for use in a university population (Saavedra et al., 2021).	At the time of recruitment, immediately after the end of the study and the 4-week follow-up.
Mental Help Seeking Intention Scale (MHSIS)	A 3-item instrument designed to measure respondents' intention to seek help from a mental health professional if one were to have a mental health problem (Hamer & Spiker, 2018). The response scale is a 7-point Likert-type, where a higher score indicates a greater intention to seek help. This instrument has been shown to possess psychometric properties suitable for use with college students, in addition to possessing evidence of predictive validity (Hamer & Spiker, 2018).	At the time of recruitment, immediately after the end of the study and the 4-week follow-up.

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Universidad del Desarrollo

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Estimated): August 1, 2025
• Primary Completion (Estimated): December 1, 2025
• Study Completion (Estimated): March 1, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: September 9, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 9, 2024
• First Posted (Estimated): September 12, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimated): September 19, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 11, 2024
• Last Verified: September 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders
• Other Study ID Numbers: 815

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No