Description
- Abstract:
- Background: Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD) is among the most stigmatized psychiatric diagnoses, contrasting with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), which are among the least stigmatized. This negative perception extends into healthcare, where many providers hold prejudiced views towards patients with ASPD, impacting their willingness to treat them. Understanding how medical education may perpetuate these stigmas is crucial for early intervention. While the impact of language on stigma has been studied in other contexts, such as Opioid Use Disorder, its role in shaping attitudes towards ASPD in healthcare has been overlooked. This study aims to assess whether language in medical education resources reflect broader public stigma patterns, where ASPD is more stigmatized than MDD and GAD. Methods: This study analyzed ten educational resources, including third-party materials and those from Warren Alpert Medical School, focusing on two stigma components identified by Phelan and Link: labeling and status loss. Labeling was assessed through the presence of stigmatizing descriptors, while status loss was evaluated by examining clinical pessimism, reflected in references to treatment difficulty and omission of treatment options. Fisher’s Exact Test was used to compare ASPD, MDD, and GAD. Results: The analysis revealed significant stigma toward ASPD, with 90% of the materials using labels like "bad," and "corrupt" as mnemonics devices or “manipulative” and “sociopath.” In contrast, no labels were employed for MDD or GAD (p < 0.0001). Regarding status loss, 60% of ASPD materials emphasized treatment difficulty, compared to 10% for MDD and none for GAD (p < 0.001). Additionally, 50% of ASPD resources omitted information on available treatments, while 20% did so for GAD and 10% for MDD (p = 0.016). Conclusion: The findings suggest that medical education resources contribute to the stigmatization of ASPD, mirroring the disproportionate stigma observed in the general public. The frequent use of stigmatizing language in education materials may perpetuate negative attitudes among current and future healthcare providers. Addressing this issue within medical education is crucial to improving patient care and treatment outcomes for individuals with ASPD. Further research is necessary to develop strategies to reduce stigma in medical training.
- Notes:
- Scholarly concentration: Medical Humanities and Ethics
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Citation
Nsubayi, Celeste, and Baruch, Jay,
"Stigma in Medical School Education: A Comparative Analysis of ASPD, MDD, and GAD"
(2024).
Warren Alpert Medical School Academic Symposium.
Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library.
https://doi.org/10.26300/te7x-nh17
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Warren Alpert Medical School Academic Symposium
The Warren Alpert Medical School Academic Symposium is an annual event at Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University that provides Year II medical students a venue to present their summer research in a poster format. Participation in the Symposium …...