Stigma towards mental illness in Portuguese students of the integrated master’s degrees in medicine, veterinary medicine and pharmaceutical sciences

TL;DR

This study examines mental illness stigma among Portuguese medical, pharmacy, and veterinary students and how their education and personal experiences influence it.

Contribution

The study compares stigma levels across health science disciplines and identifies curriculum and demographic factors influencing stigma.

Findings

First-year pharmacy students showed higher segregation stigma than veterinary and final-year medical students.

Younger students and those with less education had higher avoidance and segregation stigma scores.

Students without close contact to mental illness showed higher avoidance scores, while those living with affected individuals had lower segregation scores.

Abstract

Stigma towards mental illness is a problem faced by health science professionals, acting as a barrier to providing care and seeking help.

The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare social stigma among Medical, Pharmacy and Veterinary students from the same university campus and assess the impact of their respective curricula on stigma levels.

We performed an observational cross-sectional study, involving first and final-year students of the Integrated Master’s in Medicine, Veterinary Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, from two Institutions of the University of Porto, Portugal. An online self-report questionnaire, using the preliminary Portuguese version of the Attribution Questionnaire AQ-27, was employed. Additionally, a brief sociodemographic questionnaire was administered, also inquiring about close contact with mental illness.

A total of 182 students were considered for analysis. In terms of comparative analysis, first-year pharmacy students exhibited a higher score in the Segregation dimension compared to first-year veterinary medicine and final-year medicine students (p < .001). Younger age and a lower level of education corresponded to higher mean scores in the dimensions of Avoidance (p = .006 and .008) and Segregation (p < .001 for both). However, older students exhibited a lower mean score in the Pity dimension (p = .009). Students who did not report any close relationship with mental health problems demonstrate a higher mean score in the Avoidance dimension (p = .041), whereas those who cohabited with individuals with mental health problems demonstrated a lower mean score in the Segregation dimension (p = .014).

This study emphasises the importance of critically design health sciences curricula to address mental health stigma, suggesting that structured evidence-based anti-stigma interventions, particularly those fostering empathy, may be essential to improve students’ attitudes and promote more compassionate future healthcare practice.

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