Thompson, Laura (2022) Testing an Educational and Contact-based Intervention to Reduce Public Stigma Towards Complicated Grief. Bachelor thesis, Psychology.
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Abstract
Background: Public stigma towards individuals with grief disorders appears to be prevalent in society and may be associated with negative consequences such as discrimination, depression, and reduced help-seeking behaviours. Low levels of mental health literacy could be linked to public stigma reactions. Evidence exists that a range of anti-stigma interventions have been successful for a variety of mental disorders, yet no studies to date have examined whether public stigma interventions for grief disorders are effective. The present experimental study investigated the effect of a mixed educational and contact-based intervention on public stigma towards a person with complicated grief. Methods: We randomly assigned 464 participants (73% female, mean age: 26.1 years), mostly from the Dutch and German population, to either watch a short video intervention or to receive no intervention, and to later read a vignette describing a fictional bereaved male subject with the diagnosis complicated grief. Participants were then asked to rate this person on three components of public stigma, consisting of attributions, emotional reactions, and preferred social distance towards the subject. Results: Participants who watched the video (versus the control group), expressed less public stigma towards the person with complicated grief; they judged the person to be less sensitive and responded with less angry emotions. No effects were found for competency, warmth, emotional stability, and dependency attributions, nor for elicited emotional reactions of fear and prosocial emotions, as well as no effects for preferred social distance. Conclusion: Results show that a mixed educational and contact-based intervention may be a useful method to reduce public stigma experienced by individuals diagnosed with complicated grief and other grief disorders. Keywords: complicated grief, public stigma, educational and contact-based intervention, video intervention
| Item Type: | Thesis (Bachelor) |
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| Supervisor name: | Eisma, M.C. and Goedendorp, M.M. |
| Degree programme: | Psychology |
| Differentiation route: | Clinical Psychology (CP) [Bachelor Psychology] |
| Date Deposited: | 15 Feb 2022 15:07 |
| Last Modified: | 15 Feb 2022 15:07 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/180 |
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