Decreasing the Stigma of Mental Illness Among Health Science Students Through a Mentoring Program
For patients and families
In plain language
An automatic summary of structured registry data. It is an orientation aid, not a substitute for the official protocol or a physician assessment.
- What is being studied
- The protocol lists: Mentoring program, Control (placebo) group.
- Who it may be relevant to
- Registry conditions: Social Stigma. Basic parameters: from 18 years · All.
- What needs checking
- Age, condition and sex are only basic indicators. Prior treatment, laboratory values and other mandatory requirements appear in the eligibility criteria below.
- Where it takes place
- Center list to be confirmed — check the primary protocol.
- Next step
- Save the trial, show it to the treating physician, and confirm current recruitment with the study center. Costs, documents and travel →
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Overview
Stigma towards people with mental health problems is a serious public health problem that limits access to treatment and social participation, in addition to being considered the main barrier to inclusion and quality of health care. This stigma also affects students and health professionals, impacting the quality of care and help seeking in mental health. In this context, it is necessary to develop innovative and effective interventions among university students to reduce this stigma and promote an inclusive and recovery-based approach. The aim of the present research project is to analyze the effect of a mentoring program on levels of stigma and mental health help-seeking intention in psychology and nursing students. This three-session mentoring program is based on experiential learning and has been validated and adapted to our country. The mentors, professionals with lived experience in mental health, will provide knowledge and experiences to the students through direct contact sessions in the classroom, focusing especially on the processes of recovery and self-determination. Research question: What is the effect of a mentoring program on levels of stigma and mental health help-seeking intention in health care students? Within the dependent variables of the study are the measurement of levels of stigma and mental health help-seeking intention in students. The independent variables will be the type of group (experimental and control), age, gender and career. Methodology: Quantitative study, including the participation of health students in the experimental and control groups. The sample size was determined using the G\*Power software. After approval by the institutional ethics committee and signature of the informed consent of the participants, the mentoring program will be implemented in the classroom. For this purpose, the levels of stigma and intention to seek mental health help in both groups will be measured using nationally and internationally validated instruments, before, after and at 4 weeks. Data analysis will be performed using a mixed ANOVA model to compare pre- and post-intervention outcomes between the two groups. The present study will provide valuable evidence on the effectiveness of mentoring-based interventions in reducing stigma in health care students, a key group in the future provision of care for people with mental health problems. The results will also lay the groundwork for larger-scale studies to assess the impact of the intervention in other groups and settings, with the potential to significantly improve the quality of care and well-being of patients and their families.
Interventions
- Behavioral Mentoring program
This three-session mentoring program is based on experiential learning and has been validated and adapted to our country. The mentors, professionals with lived experience in mental health, will provide knowledge and experiences to the students through direct contact sessions in the classroom, focusing especially on the processes of recovery and self-determination. - Behavioral Control (placebo) group
This group will not receive any intervention. However, they will be invited to participate in stigma education after the study is completed.
Primary outcome measures
- Attribution Questionnaire (AQ-27) [Time frame: At the time of recruitment, immediately after the end of the study and the 4-week follow-up.]
- Mental Help Seeking Intention Scale (MHSIS) [Time frame: At the time of recruitment, immediately after the end of the study and the 4-week follow-up.]
Eligibility criteria
Inclusion criteria
- University students from health careers
- Sign the informed consent form.
Exclusion criteria
- Be under 18 years of age.
Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.
Healthy volunteers: Yes
Study design
- Allocation
- Randomized
- Model
- Parallel assignment
- Masking
- Single blind
- Primary purpose
- Prevention
Study locations
Center list to be confirmed — check the primary protocol.
Identifiers
NCT: NCT06593171 · 815