Authors:

Mercedes Ivey

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Not specified

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About Paper:

This study examined self-stigma towards seeking mental healthcare and stigma towards using psychotropic medications in the Deep South versus the rest of the US while also focusing on rural and urban areas. We hypothesized that attitudes toward seeking psychological help, and psychiatric medication use will differ between the Deep South and the rest of the U.S as well as rural and urban populations. An electronic cross-sectional survey was conducted via MTurk to evaluate participants' perspectives towards seeking professional help for mental health (MH) and taking psychiatric medications. The self-stigma associated with seeking psychological help survey was used to measure participants' self-stigma. Participants' attitudes towards and willingness to use psychiatric medications were measured with the General Social Survey (GSS) portion on psychiatric medications. The Wilcoxon rank-sum test and point-biserial correlation were used to measure differences between people residing in the Deep South versus other US states and rural and urban areas. Scores were measured on a 1-5 Likert scale. Both statistical tests showed that self-stigma was higher in rural areas compared to urban areas. Despite the lack of statistical significance, the results still suggest differences in attitudes towards mental health treatment and medication stigma between the Deep South and the rest of the US. Future research should explore the sociodemographic differences within the Deep South populations to reflect the realities of this demographic and how those factors influence self-stigma to improve future health interventions.

Source:

Chicago Area Undergraduate Research Symposium

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Co-authors:

Mercedes Ivey