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As issues related to transgender and gender diverse individuals gain more national media attention, professional organizations that promote mental health and LGBTQ + rights continue to advocate for equality and inclusion. Barriers to equality and inclusion for transgender and gender diverse individuals can include a variety of factors including discrimination in educational and workplace settings, and issues related to housing, poverty, and homelessness. To examine the impact of a media intervention on changing attitudes toward transgender and gender diverse individuals. A total of 223 students from a large, Midwestern university in the USA participated and received a 45-minute media intervention along with pre- and post-testing. A split-plot factorial ANOVA to investigate potential differences in attitudes and beliefs toward transgender and gender diverse individuals using the Transgender Attitude and Beliefs Scale indicated a statistically significant interaction based on a media intervention where F(1, 109) = 7.042, p =.009. A split-plot factorial ANOVA to investigate potential differences in willingness to engage in social action on behalf of this population measured by the Social Justice Scale did not indicate a statistically significant interaction based on the media intervention where F(1, 109) =.881, p =.350. These findings suggest that a variety of potential media interventions can increase positive attitudes and beliefs toward marginalized groups, but a stronger and/or additional intervention is needed for participants to engage in social action on behalf of the group. Implications and limitations of the study are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to stressors in the police profession, officers may be at risk for a variety of personal and mental health–related concerns. However, they have historically refrained from seeking professional mental health services. Several factors have been identified to explain their hesitance, including stigma regarding mental health issues. In this study, 248 police officers completed a 62-item online survey related to their attitudes toward seeking mental health services, mental health stigma, and perceptions of other officers’ willingness to seek services. The results indicate that public stigma and self-stigma were negatively correlated with attitudes toward seeking psychological help. Self-stigma fully mediated the relationship between public stigma and attitudes toward seeking help, and the model explained 56% of the variance in attitude scores. The results also suggest that police officers tended to believe that their peers were less willing to seek mental health services for several common presenting issues than they actually were. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]