Anti-Stigma Competence for Mental Health Professionals: Results of a Pilot Study of a Further Education Programme for People Working in Psychiatric and Psychosocial Settings

Background: Mental health professionals are an important target group for anti-stigma interventions, both as subjects to stigmatisation as well as stigmatising actors. Within the framework of the German Research Network on Schizophrenia, a further education training programme on "antistigma competence" was developed and evaluated for this target group in a pilot study. Material and Methods: The control-group pilot study included a total of 11 trainings with 123 participants. "Social distance" and "addressing stigma" were assessed before, directly after and three months after the training sessions. "Addressing stigma" included the ability to recognise stigmatising situations and to act against them. Results: Social distance was significantly lower after the "anti-stigma competence" training than before and remained significantly lower after three months. Moreover, the ability to recognise and counteract stigmawas significantly improved after three months. Conclusion: The training on "anti-stigma competence" has been shown to be effective. The degree to which the training will have an impact on stigmatisation in real life of patients in mental health care institutions should be a target of future research.