Self and others: the differential impact of an anti-stigma programme

Purpose: We investigated whether respondents’ first person views differed from their “third person” views reflecting their assessment of attitudes of other people. Secondly we examined whether first-person and third-person views changed following an anti-stigma workshop.

Method: A repeated measures design was used to evaluate nine 6-hour workshops delivered to 87 employees of public and private sector organizations over five months. Questions measuring both first person (15 items) and third person (15 items) views were administered before and after the workshops.

Results: At baseline, stigma scores were higher for third person views, reflecting higher levels of stigma. There was a reduction in stigma following the workshop for both first and third person views. The reduction in self-reported stigmatizing attitudes was greater when assessing “first person” compared to “third person” stigma.

Conclusion: The findings suggest that individuals typically consider themselves less stigmatizing than others. First person views were more sensitive to change following an anti-stigma intervention.