Despite extensive evidence regarding the negative effects of stigma experienced by people living with HIV (PLHIV) and people who inject drugs within health care settings, comparatively little evidence exists regarding the effectiveness of initiatives to reduce this stigma.

Highlights

• Brief interventions based on social norms theory demonstrated immediate improvements in health care workers’ attitudes towards people who inject drugs and their perceptions of their colleagues’ attitudes towards people living with HIV and people who inject drugs.
• Improved attitudes towards people living...

Abstract

Background

Many primary care clinicians (PCCs) hold stigma toward people with opioid use disorder (OUD), which may be a barrier to care. Few interventions exist to address PCC stigma toward people with OUD. This study examined whether an online training incorporating patient narratives reduced PCCs’ stigma toward people with OUD (primary) and increased intentions to treat people with OUD compared to an attention-control training (secondary).

Methods

PCCs from 15 primary care clinics were invited to complete a 30 min online training for an electronic health record-embedded...

Background

Healthcare workers across the world have risen to the demands of treating COVID-19 patients, potentially at significant cost to their own health and wellbeing. There has been increasing recognition of the potential mental health impact of COVID-19 on frontline workers and calls to provide psychosocial support for them. However, little attention has so far been paid to understanding the impact of working on a pandemic from healthcare workers’ own perspectives or what their views are about support.

Methods

Key healthcare databases (Medline, PsychINFO and PubMed) were checked...

The Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), jointly with the Mental Health Commission of Canada, will hold a new online self-learning and tutor-guided course "Understanding Stigma and Cognitive Behavioral Interpersonal Skills" from August 15 to November 30, 2022. 

The purpose of this course is to reduce mental health-related stigma and improve clinical and practice management skills among primary care providers when working with individuals experiencing mental health challenges.

In this blog post and guide, Dr. Stephen Parkin shares his observations about the use of stigmatising words and phrases in academic writing, and offers a list of person-centred and pragmatic alternatives.