BACKGROUND HIV is a stigmatizing medical condition. The concept of HIV stigma is multifaceted, with personalized stigma (perceived stigmatizing consequences of others knowing of their HIV status), disclosure concerns, negative self-image, and concerns with public attitudes described as core aspects of stigma for individuals with HIV infection. There is limited research on HIV stigma in children...

Abstract Background Healthcare professionals can be a source of stigma and discrimination for people with mental illness, anti-stigma programs are needed this target group. However, there is no validated German language scale to assess attitudes healthcare towards illness. This study had the aim validate version Opening Minds Stigma Scale Health Care Providers (OMS-HC), self-report measure stig...

BACKGROUND Pharmacies are an important source of sterile syringes for people who inject drugs (PWID) in Tajikistan who are under high risk of HIV and hepatitis C virus. Accessibility of sterile syringes at pharmacies without prescription may depend on pharmacists' attitudes towards PWID. This qualitative inquiry examines meanings and processes of stigmatization of PWID among pharmacists and pha...

The WHO's International Studies of Schizophrenia conclude that schizophrenia may have a more benign course in "developing" societies than in the West. The authors focus on this finding's most common corollary: cultural schemata are shaped by the transition from agrarian to industrial society. Developing societies are viewed as traditional, gemeinschaft cultures lacking the stigmatizing beliefs ...

BACKGROUND Many members of the public have poor mental health literacy. A Mental Health First Aid training course was developed in order to improve this. This paper describes the training course and reports an evaluation study looking at changes in knowledge, stigmatizing attitudes and help provided to others. METHODS Data are reported on the first 210 participants in public courses. Evaluati...

Mental illness stigma has been identified by national policy makers as an important barrier to help seeking for mental health. Using a random sample of 5,555 students from a diverse set of 13 universities, we conducted one of the first empirical studies of the association of help-seeking behavior with both perceived public stigma and people's own stigmatizing attitudes (personal stigma). There ...