Intervention to Reduce Serious Mental Illness and Suicide Stigma Among Medical Students

Ponce Medical School Foundation

Status: Unknown

Conditions: Clinical Competence; Stigmatization

Treatments: Other: Disaster Preparedness Course; Behavioral: SMI/SIA Stigma Reduction Intervention

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Industry; NIH

Identifiers

NCT05325320

1R34MH120179-01A1 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Details and patient eligibility

About

The team aims to develop and test the efficacy of a serious mental illness (SMI) and suicide ideation and attempt (SIA) stigma reduction intervention for medical students. The team expects that after intervention exposure, relative to control group, participants in the experimental condition will manifest more favorable change in knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors.

Full description

People with serious mental illness (PSMI; i.e. Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder) die, on average, 25 years earlier than the general population. Suicide is a key factor for this disparity as it is the leading cause of unnatural deaths among this population. Research identifies Latinos as a particularly vulnerable group, accounting for one of the highest rates (over 30%) of serious mental illness (SMI) among ethnic minorities in the United States (US). Latinos also hold one of the highest prevalence of suicide ideation and attempts (SIA) with rates of 10.1% and 4.4% respectively. This scenario worsens for one Latino subgroup, Puerto Ricans, who have the highest prevalence of SMI (36%) and SIA among Latinos in the US (7.9% and 3.5% respectively). Taken together, these facts present a concerning scenario for Latinos, especially Puerto Ricans with SMI/SIA. Health professionals play a key role in identifying SMI/SIA among patients; unfortunately, SMI/SIA stigma hinders this process.

The proposed study aims to: 1) develop the content of an intervention to reduce SMI/SIA stigma among medical students, 2) determine the acceptability and feasibility of implementing the intervention among medical students by examining recruitment/screening procedures, participation/refusal/retention rates, and participant satisfaction, and; 3) pilot test the preliminary efficacy of the intervention in reducing SMI/SIA stigma among medical students by increasing knowledge of SMI and SIA, reducing negative attitudes towards SMI/SIA and increasing behavioral skills for providing healthcare to PSMI.

Enrollment: 126 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 21+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Medical student currently in third year of medical school training

Exclusion criteria

• Do not speak English

Trial design

Primary purpose: Health Services Research

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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126 participants in 2 patient groups

Stigma Reduction Intervention

Experimental group

Description:

Participants randomized to the experimental condition will receive the SMI/SIA Stigma Reduction Intervention.

Treatment:

Behavioral: SMI/SIA Stigma Reduction Intervention

Disaster Preparedness Course

Other group

Description:

Participants randomized to the control condition will receive a Disaster Preparedness Course, addressing the basics of natural disaster preparedness.

Treatment:

Other: Disaster Preparedness Course