Selected Population Health Issue and Affected Population.

The population health issue chosen is the stigma associated with mental illness. The prejudice towards mental conditions has a negative influence on the patients such that they might refuse to seek treatment. The patients try to avoid public stigma thus the mental disorders worsen. Public stigma might originate from the stereotypes of violence among people with mental conditions as well as media portrayals. Moreover, lack of contact, experience, and knowledge about mental disorders increases the discrimination. Social demographics including ethnicity, culture, and race also makes the public stigmatize mental health patients (Henderson, Evans-Lacko, & Thornicroft, 2013). The advocacy campaign will focus on eradicating stigma towards students with mental conditions in a local high school. Stigmatization attitudes towards mental disorders start at an early age thus the need for school anti-stigma interventions.

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Summary of Campaigns

Opening Minds (OM) Anti-Stigma Initiative in Canada

The Opening Mind (OM) is an initiative created by the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) end prejudice towards mental health patients in that country. The MHCC targeted four groups including healthcare professionals, the young people, the workforce, and individuals in the media (Stuart et al., 2014). The OM campaign utilized different approaches for the target groups. Essentially, the contact-based intervention was applied to reach out to all the groups. When using the contact-based technique, people who have recovered from metal conditions are given an opportunity to share their experiences. Moreover, the traditional didactic educational method was applied to the healthcare providers. The MHCC collaborated with news media unions and owners as well as companies and organizations to engage the workforce and journalists. One of the benefits of the OM initiative is that it has a strong evaluative element. As such, the effectiveness of the program across the various target groups is undertaken. The unproductive activities in the programs are then discontinued. Some of the successful programs so far are the university community partnerships.

The Time to Change Anti-Stigma Campaign

The Time to Change is an initiative conducted in the UK to minimize the public stigma associated with mental conditions. The initiative targeted individuals from middle and low-income groups in their mid-20s to mid-40s. Furthermore, health professionals, co-workers, and others close to people struggling with psychological problems were also covered. Social marketing approaches such as social media, mass media, and social contact events proved useful for the Time to Change campaign (Sampognaa et al., 2017). Over time, the initiative started decreasing stigma in the society. People were willing to develop relationships with mental health patients. Besides, individuals seeking mental health treatment experienced reduced discrimination.

Attributes of Effective Campaigns

The campaigns described above have characteristics that made them effective. Firstly, both the Opening Minds (OM) and the Time to Change anti-stigma campaigns had clear goals and messages. Specifically, the initiatives wanted to stop prejudice and discrimination against mental health disorders. Another characteristic of the campaigns is that they had defined their target groups (Stuart et al., 2014). For instance, the OM concentrated on journalists, employees, youths, and health personnel while the Time to Change targeted health providers and people close to mental health patients. The initiatives also have also applied different strategies and tools including social marketing and contact-based intervention efficiently. Credible teams also conducted the campaigns and the initiatives involved effective communication.

Health Advocacy Campaign

A significant number of adolescents have mental illnesses, and they face discrimination especially in the school environment. Therefore, all the states in the country should develop a mental health policy that incorporates anti-stigma campaigns to be launched in local high schools to address the problem. The strategy will have different objectives, and the first one is to equip teachers and students with relevant knowledge about mental conditions. The plan will also use the advocacy campaigns to change the negative attitudes and stereotypes that adolescents have towards mental illnesses. Another goal of the policy is to create behavioral changes among teenagers to ensure they accept their classmates who are suffering from mental disorders. Finally, the plan aims at ensuring high school students with mental issues seek professional help. Furthermore, the policy will involve contact based intervention using social media and video messages.

The proposed policy is expected to be successful in ending stigmatization of mental illnesses among high school students. According to Mellor (2014), school-based mental health campaigns conducted in the UK had a positive influence on social distance and stereotypes related to mental disorders. Hence, if carried out effectively, anti-stigma interventions in schools play a crucial role in decreasing discrimination against teenagers with mental conditions.

Certainly, the discrimination faced by mental health patients can reduce if effective advocacy campaigns are conducted. Therefore, more individuals would be willing to receive psychological treatment for the conditions. In the past, initiatives such as the Time to Change and the Opening Minds in England and Canada have been successful. Similarly, introducing campaigns in high schools would prevent stigmatization of mental disorders that develop early in life.

References

Henderson, C., Evans-Lacko, S., & Thornicroft, G. (2013). Mental illness stigma, help seeking, and public health programs. American Journal of Public Health, 103(5), 777–780. http://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2012.301056

Mellor, C. (2014). School-based interventions targeting stigma of mental illness: systematic review. The Psychiatric Bulletin, 38(4), 164–171. http://doi.org/10.1192/pb.bp.112.041723

Sampognaa, G., Bakolis, I., Evans-Lackobd, S., Robinson, E., Thornicroft, G., & Henderson, C. (2017). The impact of social marketing campaigns on reducing mental health stigma: Results from the 2009–2014 Time to Change programme. European Psychiatry, 40, 116-122. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eurpsy.2016.08.008

Stuart, H., Chen, S.-P., Christie, R., Dobson, K., Kirsh, B., Knaak, S., … Whitley, R. (2014). Opening Minds in Canada: Background and rationale. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. Revue Canadienne de Psychiatrie, 59(10 Suppl 1), S8–S12. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4213755/

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Selected Population Health Issue and Affected Population.