A KING’S COLLEGE LONDON UNDERGRADUATE PSYCHIATRY SOCIETY EVENT TO CHALLENGE THE STIGMA ATTACHED TO PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEMS IN HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS AND STUDENTS

Background: There are higher levels of psychological distress in healthcare professionals and students compared to the general population. Yet, despite the availability of effective treatment, many in this group continue to suffer in silence. Fear of exposure to stigmatization has been identified to be a major barrier to accessing and using mental health services. King’s College London Undergraduate Psychiatry Society (KCL PsychSoc) organized an event entitled, \u27What does bipolar disorder even mean? Psychological distress: How can we challenge the stigma?\u27. Healthcare professionals who themselves recovered from psychological problems and a mental health advocate with first-hand experience of psychological distress were invited to deliver talks followed by an interactive question and answer session. Design: We conducted a single-arm pre-post comparison study. People who attended the KCL Psych Soc event were recruited to participate. Validated stigma scales on knowledge (Mental Health Knowledge Schedule (MAKS), attitudes (Community Attitudes towards the Mentally Ill) and behavior (Reported and Intended Behavior Scale (RIBS)) were administered on participants before and immediately after exposure to the event. Results: 44/44 of the participants recruited completed the study (100% response rate). There were statistically significant changes in the respondents’ scores for all 3 stigma scales (p value MAKS <0.0001, p value CAMI