Public attitudes towards people with mental illness in England and Scotland, 1994–2003

Mehta, Nisha BSc
Kassam, Aliya MSc
Leese, Morven PhD
Butler, Georgia BSc
Thornicroft, Graham PhD

Nisha Mehta, BSc, Aliya Kassam, MSc, Morven Leese, PhD, Georgia Butler, BSc, Graham Thornicroft, PhD, Section of Community Mental Health, Health Service and Population Health Research Department, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, UK.

Correspondence: Graham Thornicroft, Section of Comunity Mental Health, Health Service and Population Health Research Department, PO Box 29, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF, UK. Email: [email protected]

(First received 17 March 2008, final revision 9 June 2008, accepted 20 August 2008)

Declaration of Interest

A.K. is supported by an educational grant from Lundbeck UK. Funding detailed in Acknowledgements.

British Journal of Psychiatry 194(3):p 278-284, March 2009.

Background

Understanding trends in public attitudes towards people with mental illness informs the assessment of ongoing severity of stigma and evaluation of anti-stigma campaigns.

Aims

To analyse trends in public attitudes towards people with mental illness in England and Scotland using Department of Health Attitudes to Mental Illness Surveys, 1994–2003.

Method

We analysed trends in attitudes for 2000 respondents in each survey year (6000 respondents in 1996 and 1997) using quota sampling methods and the adapted Community Attitudes Toward the Mentally Ill scale.

Results

Comparing 2000 and 2003, there was significant deterioration for 17/25 items in England and for 4/25 items in Scotland. Neither country showed significant improvements in items between 2000 and 2003.

Conclusions

Public attitudes towards people with mental illness in England and Scotland became less positive during 1994–2003, especially in 2000–2003, and to a greater extent in England. The results are consistent with early positive effects for the ‘see me’ anti-stigma campaign in Scotland.