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Stigma, negative attitudes and discrimination towards mental illness within the nursing profession: a review of the literature
Author(s) -
ROSS C. A.,
GOLDNER E. M.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of psychiatric and mental health nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.69
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1365-2850
pISSN - 1351-0126
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2850.2009.01399.x
Subject(s) - mental illness , stigma (botany) , schulze method , psychiatry , nursing , mental health , medicine , social stigma , psychology , family medicine , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , civil engineering , engineering
The aim of this paper was to review the existing literature pertaining to stigma, negative attitudes and discrimination towards mental illness, specifically as viewed through the lens of the nursing profession. The results of the literature review were synthesized and analysed, and the major themes drawn from this were found to correspond with Schulze's model identifying three positions that healthcare workers may assume in relation to stigma of mental illness: ‘stigmatizers’, ‘stigmatized’ and ‘de‐stigmatizers’. In this paper, the nursing profession is examined from the perspectives of the first two major themes: the ‘stigmatizers’ and ‘stigmatized’. Their primary sub‐themes are identified and discussed: (1) Nurses as ‘the stigmatizers’: (a) nurses' attitudes in general medical settings towards patients with psychiatric illness and (b) psychiatric nurses; (2) Nurses as ‘the stigmatized’: (a) nurses who have mental illness and (b) stigma within the profession against psychiatric nurses and/or psychiatry in general. The secondary and tertiary sub‐themes are also identified and reviewed.