NCT05325320

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

Reducing Serious Mental Illness and Suicide Stigma Among Medical Students

• Status: Unknown
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 126 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Ponce Medical School Foundation, Inc. · Industry
• Sex: All
• Age: 21 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

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.

Detailed 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.

Conditions

• Stigmatization
• Clinical Competence

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	SMI/SIA Stigma Reduction Intervention	Online course designed to reduce stigma behaviors towards serious mental illness and suicide ideation and attempt among medical students. It aims to improve medical students' healthcare delivery skills.
OTHER	Disaster Preparedness Course	Online course designed to improve professionals' skills and competencies for engaging in disaster preparedness.

Timeline

• Start date: 2022-04-06
• Primary completion: 2023-05-01
• Completion: 2023-05-01
• First posted: 2022-04-13
• Last updated: 2022-05-19

Locations

2 sites across 2 countries: United States, Puerto Rico