| Summary: | 碩士 === 中山醫學大學 === 醫學社會暨社會工作學系碩士班 === 105 === Background
People with mental illness are one of the most stigmatized groups. Persons with mental illness frequently experience discrimination such as lack of access to proper medical care and shelter; maltreatment in their places of living or institutions; lack of employment opportunities and lack of social interaction. Resisting stigma and promoting quality of life for people with mental illness require not only the efforts of the patients themselves, but also those of mental health professionals. This should involve integrated service in which there is a search for resource connections and strengths. Social workers, in particular mental health social workers, are perceived as health professionals who work closely with people with mental illness. To provide supportive services and formulate positive policies and programs for people with mental illness, it is necessary to explore the attitudes of mental health social workers and social work students toward people with mental health issues.
Purposes
The aim of this dissertation is to understand the attitudes of mental health social workers and social work students toward people with mental illness and especially if they harbor negative stereotypes or stigma. Personal experiences of mental health social workers and social work students before and after making contact with people with mental illness were analyzed. Then, anti-discrimination, anti-oppression and reflexivity strategies in social work education were explored. Finally, some of the key attitudes of social workers and social work students toward human rights and mental illness are discussed.
Methods
Qualitative interviews were adopted as the research method. Participants included 11 mental health social workers and 9 social work students.
Results
According to the findings, contact with people with mental illness can reduce stigma. Participants’ personal experience played an important role in changing attitudes toward people with mental illness. However, some participants harbored negative attitudes toward people with mental illness due to the development of neoliberalism in the social work field, such as low pay, long working hours and accountability pressure.
In terms of social work curricula, few courses focus on concepts of anti-discrimination, anti-oppression and reflexivity, apart from those emphasizing gender and ethnic groups (indigenous peoples, marriage immigrants). As reflexivity can enhance sensitivity and respect for self-determination, educational training strategies to reduce stigma toward people with mental illness in social work practice were considered helpful.
Finally, a human rights approach to removing the stigma of mental illness was proposed. There was no consensus among the participants as to whether a human rights approach can be a mainstream strategy for eliminating the stigma of mental illness. However, participants did agree that the media is important in shaping and reducing mental health stigma.
Conclusions
By examining attitudes of mental health social workers and social work students toward mental illness, the results provide possible strategies against discrimination and stigma, namely improving social work education regarding stigma, increasing personal contact with people with mental illness, and increasing discussion and debates on issues of mental illness.
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