Abstract Manager

Facilitated and Dedicated Poster

LP4 - 01

Accept

I declare I have no actual or potential conflict of interest in relation to this program.

This is the first nation-wide study examining the beliefs and experiences underlying mental illness stigma in first year Canadian medical students.

no

General Call (Workshop, Oral Presentation, Poster Presentation)

Oral

Education Research

Resident

yes

Explaining Mental Illness Stigma in Canadian Medical Students: A Nationwide Study

Mental illness is ubiquitous and accounts for a substantial portion of the global disease burden. Unfortunately, negative stereotypes (stigma) about people with mental illness are common among health care professionals and students, which can decrease the quality of patient care. While some fixed factors such as gender and age have been examined, it is not yet clear which specific beliefs and experiences establish stigma prior to training. This study aimed to describe and explain mental illness stigma in the first nationwide sample of incoming Canadian medical students.

Over the course of 2 months, 262 survey responses were collected from first-year medical students across the 14 English-language Canadian medical schools. Total scores from the validated Mental Illness: Clinicians' Attitudes (MICA-2) scale were used to measure stigma.

Greater mental illness stigma was predicted by male gender, less mental illness exposure, less subjective knowledge about mental health, greater distrust/skepticism toward people with mental illness, and stronger belief that people with mental illness cannot meaningfully contribute to society. Exposure (p = 1.86E-3), knowledge (p = 4.98E-3), distrust/skepticism (p = 9.34E-9), and perceived inability to contribute (p = 8.93E-6), cumulatively explained 31.7% of the variability in MICA-2 stigma score. Neither future specialty of interest (family medicine, surgery, or other) nor believed etiology of mental illness predicted participants' stigma scores.

This study characterized mental illness stigma in the first nationwide sample of incoming Canadian medical students and identified modifiable predictors of this stigma. These offer clear targets for future antistigma educational interventions.

Stigma

Mental Illness

Medical Students

Undergraduate

Undergraduate

Professionalism

Patient Safety

Physician & Medical Student Health and Well-being

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes