The stigma related to mental illness among medical students of the Medical School, University of Campinas, Brazil

• Grant number: 18/06378-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: August 01, 2018
• End date: July 31, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine - Psychiatry
• Principal Investigator: Ana Maria Galdini Raimundo Oda
• Grantee: Valeria Hiromi Arashiro Ota
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Médicas (FCM). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Stigma related to mental disease and the mentally ill presents itself as a serious problem that brings serious consequences to Public Health. The scientific literature indicates that the general population as well as health professionals have a discriminatory view towards people with mental disorders. There is strong evidence that people with mental disorders have less access to basic health services, receive poorer health care; in addition, those with severe mental disorders have a much higher mortality rate than the general population, with an average of 10-years of potential life lost in this group. This fact, to a large extent, is correlated to stigma over mental illness. Stigma reduction actions tend to be more effective when carried out with undergraduate students, compared to those professionals already graduated. Given that the National Curriculum Guidelines for medical courses recommend an academic education orientated to the general practitioner, it is essential to have an attempt to reduce the stigma about people with mental disorders, since every doctor will have to deal with these people. The present project has as general objective to measure the stigma related to mental illness present among the medical students of the Medical School, University of Campinas, Brazil, through the application of the AQ-26B Attribution Questionnaire, a standardized research instrument already validated for Brazilian Portuguese. From the analysis of the results, specific strategies will be collaboratively drawn up to reduce stigma among the students of that college. (AU)