An analysis of feedback from participants of the walking tour, ‘Stories against Stigma’, organised by the Department of Mental Health Education at NIMHANS last month, suggests that partnering with the community to enhance mental health literacy can be an effective step in bringing down stigma towards persons with mental disorders.
Following the tour, a team of doctors, led by K.S. Meena, Associate Professor in the department, evaluated public attitude towards mental health institutes, mental health professionals, and persons with mental disorders.
Dr. Meena, who on October 4 presented the findings at the ninth international conference ‘Together against Stigma, Towards an Inclusive Society’ supported by the World Psychiatric Association at Singapore, told The Hindu : “Prior to the tour, an evaluation of the reasons from participants suggested that stigma against persons with mental health disorders continues to exist in the minds of the people.”
However, after the tour of the institute, 88.2% of the respondents had a positive impact. Most of the respondents (79.4%) strongly agreed that the tour brought a positive attitude in them towards mental health. While 67.6% of the respondents reported that the tour helped in bringing down the misconceptions, most respondents (47.1%) liked the knowledge imparted to them about the treatment scope in NIMHANS for mental illness.
“When asked about how the tour can be enhanced, 35.5% of the respondents suggested organising department specific tour, so that a greater insight about the facilities could be gathered. 20.3% of the respondents wanted an the duration of tour to be increased, suggesting that the project was successfully in addressing the needs of the respondents,” said Dr. Meena.
Stating that the tour was a pilot initiative to destigmatise the concept of mental health, mental institutions and persons with mental illness, Dr. Meena said: “The more knowledge is imparted, the better the reach will be of mental health professionals to treat disorders. A good level of good mental health literacy is a key to a good prognosis of psychiatric disorders.”
With mental health literacy, early treatment intervention is possible. “From what we can infer from the present study is that respondents enjoyed the learning process that happened at NIMHANS, and was an eye-opener of few,” she said.
