Reducing Mental Health Stigma in Occupational Therapy: Outcomes of a Contact-Based Educational Program

This study evaluated the impact of a 2-day contact-based stigma-reduction program on OT students’ emotions and attitudes toward mental illness (MI). At 6-month follow-up, students (N = 28) demonstrated improvements in: anxiety about MI, stigmatizing and stereotyping attitudes, health literacy expectations, and self-stigma about MI disclosure/help-seeking, with medium to large effect sizes (Cohen’s d). Further, students reported greater readiness to clinically address mental health needs. Limitations include lack of control group and inability to determine additive effects of the program beyond standard education. This existing community-based program can be feasibly integrated into education as an upstream intervention to reduce mental health stigma.