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Introduction The undergraduate mental health nursing course may be an optimal time to cultivate students’ positive attitudes toward people living with a mental illness.Aim To determine the impact of an undergraduate mental health nursing course on students’ attitudes toward people living with a mental illness, depression, and schizophrenia.Method A quasi-experimental single-group pretest posttest study was conducted using a sample of undergraduate nursing students in New York City (N = 44). Self-reported measures of prejudice toward those living with a mental illness were collected at the beginning of a mental health nursing course and again at its conclusion.Results A statistically significant decrease in prejudice scores was found concerning mental illness (p = .03, d = 0.23), depression (p = .01, d = 0.31), and schizophrenia (p = .013, d = 0.34). Subscale analysis revealed significant decreases in the fear/avoidance and unpredictability subscales. Yet no significant change was found in the subscales of authoritarianism and malevolence for any of the three conditions.Discussion A mental health course led to a modest decrease in prejudice. However, certain facets of prejudice remain unchanged.Implications for Practice Major curricular reform is needed to optimize the impact of undergraduate nursing education.
Richards et al. (Mon,) studied this question.