Date of Conferral
2022
Degree
Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)
School
Nursing
Advisor
Anna Hubbard
Abstract
Many patients with mental illness around the world face mental health-related stigma. Compared to other health care workers, nurses express the highest level of stigmatizing attitudes toward mentally ill patients. The purpose of this project was to change staff nurses’ attitudes in a long-term care facility by educating them on mental health stigma. The practice-focused question guiding this study was whether educating staff nurses on mental health stigma changed nurses’ attitudes and behavioral intentions towards people with mental illness. This project was guided by the constructivist theory of learning. Seventeen staff members voluntarily participated in a 30-minute nursing staff education that was created using the Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, and Evaluate (ADDIE) model. The Opening Mind Scale for Health Care Providers (OMS-HC) was used in this study as the pre-and post-questionnaire to evaluate the effectiveness of education. The score for this questionnaire ranges from 20 to 100, with lesser scores suggesting the least stigmatizing attitudes and higher scores suggesting high stigmatizing attitudes. The mean pretest score for all participant samples (N = 17) was 64.8, showing that nursing staff had a tendency towards stigmatizing attitudes and behaviors towards people with mental health disorders; after the education the posttest mean scores dropped to 56.7, indicating an improvement in attitudes and behavioral intentions. This project has the potential to impact social change, as addressing stigma is fundamental to delivering quality health care and achieving optimal health.
Recommended Citation
Mbome, Angel Vivian, "Nurses’ Role in Reducing Mental Health Stigma in Health Care" (2022). Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies. 14322.
https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/14322
