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Background: People with mental disorders face frequent stigmatizing attitudes and behaviors from others. Importantly, they can internalize such negative attitudes and thus self-stigmatize. Self-stigma is involved in diminished coping skills leading to social avoidance and difficulties in adhering to care. Reducing self-stigma and its emotional corollary, shame, is thus crucial to attenuate the negative outcomes associated with mental illness. Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) is a third wave cognitive behavioral therapy that targets shame reduction and hostile self-to-self relationship and allows for symptom improvement while increasing self-compassion. Although shame is a prominent part of the concept of self-stigma, the efficacy of CFT has never been evaluated in individuals with high levels of self-stigma. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and acceptability of a group-based CFT program on self-stigma, compared to a psychoeducation program for self-stigma (Ending Self-Stigma) and to treatment as usual (TAU). We hypothesize that diminished shame and emotional dysregulation and increased self-compassion will mediate the relationship between self-stigma improvements post-therapy in the experimental group. Methods: This seven-center trial will involve 336 participants diagnosed with a severe mental illness and reporting high levels of self-stigma. Participants will be randomized into one of three treatment arms: 12 week-treatment of Compassion-Focused Therapy (experimental arm), 12 week-treatment of Psychoeducation (active control arm), and TAU (treatment as usual - passive control arm). The primary outcome is the decrease of self-stigma scores on a self-report scale, i.e., ISMI, at 12 weeks. Secondary endpoints include sustainability of self-stigma scores (ISMI) and self-reported scores regarding target psychological dimensions, e.g., shame and emotional regulation, social functioning and psychiatric symptoms. Assessments are scheduled at pretreatment, post-treatment (at 12 weeks), and at 6-month follow-up. Acceptability will be evaluated via (i) the Credibility and Expectancy Questionnaire at T0, the Consumer Satisfaction Questionnaire for Psychotherapeutic Services posttreatment and at 6-month follow-up, (iii) attendance and (iv) dropout rates. Discussion: This study will evaluate the potential efficacy and acceptability of a group-based CFT program on the decrease of self-stigma, and thereby contribute to the continuing development of evidence-based therapeutic interventions for the internalized stigma of mental disorders. ` Trial registration: This trial has been registered on January 26, 2023: clinicaltrials.gov NCT05698589 https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05698589

Previous research by Granjon et al. (in process) has shown that individuals with invisible disabilities (i.e., hemophilia) elicit different attitudes compared to those with visible disabilities (i.e., hemiplegia). Specifically, attitudes were found to be more negative towards individuals with invisible disabilities when measured through approach-avoidance tendencies using the Visual Approach Avoidance Self-Task (VAAST; Rougier et al., 2018). The aim of the current study is to replicate these results using a modified version of the VAAST, the Incident VAAST (Pillaud & Ric, 2022). This version of the VAAST enables the assessment of approach-avoidance tendencies without explicitly referring to the object of interest, in this case, disability, providing a more indirect method of measuring attitudes.

This study is a replication of the previous study with adding a new variable: link or not the disability concept to the participant.

The aim of this first study is to analyze the influence of the grammatical form of group label (i.e., nouns vs. adjectives) on the essentialization of the characteristics associated to the target and their group, the perceived desirability of these characteristics and their prevalence (i.e., outgroup homogeneity).

There is clear evidence that people with mental disability suffer from discrimination at school, at work, and in society. Less is known about the psychological processes and perceptions that guide such behaviors and even less if these perceptions vary according to the type of disability. Our objective was to build on well-established social psychological models and investigate the perceptions (i.e., stereotypes, perceived threats, and emotions) of people towards different types of mental disability. Participants from two francophone countries completed a questionnaire measuring their perceptions towards 18 mental disabilities and their familiarity with disability (N = 560). As expected, results revealed heterogeneous perceptions across groups. Moreover, perceived threats mediated the link between the stereotype of warmth and emotions. Surprisingly, greater familiarity with mental disability went along with greater derogation. This research nuances the overly generalized perceptions often associated with mental disability. We discuss implications for the reduction of discrimination against people with mental disability.

Study of attitudes towards invisible disability with self-reported and behavioral measures.

Social judgment towards invisible disability compared to visible disability and people without disability

The objective of the present study is to understand the psychological mechanisms that could hinder students in the care field (mental health and health) suffering from mental illness in their academic career and in the care of patients. Specifically, it seems necessary to (i) determine if attitudes towards mental health conditions are different to attitudes towards physical health conditions, (ii) determine whether having a history of psychological difficulties increases shame and self-stigmatization among care students, (iii) identify links between avoidance tendencies toward psychological disorders, self-stigmatization, and self-efficacy, and investigate the protective role of self-compassion for students' mental health. To do so, we will use several standardized questionnaires as well as a measure of avoidance tendencies towards mental disorders, via a secure platform available online. Our population of interest is French and English university students.

This study aims to assess implicit and explicit attitudes towards people with invisible disability.

Attitudes towards invisible versus visible disability : a replication from Granjon et al. (2021) on a teacher population.

This research aims to explore the spontaneous regrouping of a large variety of disabilities according to their stereotype (warmth and competence) and stigma (controllability and visibility).

Medical comics are a suitable educational tool for paediatric populations. The emotions conveyed by the characters should not evoke negative feelings, which could then be associated with care or caregivers. The eyes and mouth are the first areas of the face to be analysed. One study attempted to assess the ability of children to perceive the emotions of one of the protagonists through the representation of their mouth.

The aim of the present study is to analyze social judgment express towards employees according to their disability (i.e., disabled employee vs. able-bodied employee) and to the emotion they express (i.e., anger vs. sadness). While Study 1 used personalized instructions, Study 2 will use depersonlized instructions.

Negatives attitudes toward children with autism are an important barrier to school inclusion. Despite the increasing amount of research, no psychometrically sound scale reliably measures these attitudes in young students. Our aim was to develop and validate a tool (Children’s Attitudes Toward Autism Questionnaire) to evaluate attitudes (three dimensions) of students in elementary school toward peers with autism. Elementary school students ( N = 204) completed the Children’s Attitudes Toward Autism Questionnaire and two other scales assessing behavioral intentions toward peers with mental disability (Shared Activities Questionnaire-B) and familiarity with disability and autism. The confirmatory factor analysis first showed a satisfactory model fit ( χ2/df = 3.65, root mean square error of approximation = 0.114, adjusted goodness of fit index = 0.970, standardized root mean square residual = 0.067, comparative fit index = 0.967, and non-normed fit index = 0.963) and internal consistency for each dimension was good (>0.70). Second, attitudes were more positive in girls, older children, and children familiar with disability (but not with autism). The behavioral dimension of the Children’s Attitudes Toward Autism Questionnaire had the strongest association with the Shared Activities Questionnaire-B. The Children’s Attitudes Toward Autism Questionnaire is the first scale (1) to assess the three dimensions of attitudes toward autism (2) among children (from the age of 6 years old) and (3) to show good psychometric quality. With the Children’s Attitudes Toward Autism Questionnaire, researchers can reliably measure children’s attitudes toward peers with autism, which is especially necessary when evaluating the effectiveness of much-needed anti-stigma programs. Lay abstract Research has shown that negative attitudes toward a different child can appear very early in development. Unfortunately, these negative attitudes are one of the most important barriers to the school inclusion of children with autism. Despite the increasing amount of research, no tool reliably measures these attitudes among young students. The objective of this study was to develop and validate a questionnaire (Children’s Attitudes Toward Autism Questionnaire) to evaluate attitudes of students in elementary school toward their peers with autism. Elementary school students ( N = 204) completed the Children’s Attitudes Toward Autism Questionnaire and two other scales assessing behavioral intentions toward peers with a mental disability (Shared Activities Questionnaire-B) and familiarity with disability and autism. Results first showed that the Children’s Attitudes Toward Autism Questionnaire reliably measured the concept of attitude through three sub-dimensions (namely, the cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions). Second, analyses confirmed that the Children’s Attitudes Toward Autism Questionnaire corresponds with previous knowledge on this topic, namely, that attitudes were more positive in girls, older children, and children familiar with disability. In conclusion, the Children’s Attitudes Toward Autism Questionnaire is the first scale (1) to assess all the dimensions of attitudes toward autism among elementary school children (from the age of 6 years old) and (2) to show theoretical and statistical relevance. From now on, the Children’s Attitudes Toward Autism Questionnaire can be used to assess attitudes of young children toward their peers with autism. This is an important step forward, in particular for evaluating the effects of anti-stigma programs that are increasingly implemented in schools.

Self-judgement is known to play a crucial role in academic achievement, and as such, may be expected to have an impact on students with dyslexia. Their self-judgements may reflect the negative stereotype of low competence that targets people with disabilities. Their repeated academic failures may lead to a negative association between "school" and "failure". The aim of the present study was to investigate how such factors contribute to academic failure in students with dyslexia. Participants were 183 French middle school students. We assessed students' self-judgement and manipulated the framing of performance tasks so that students completed literacy tasks in both academic and non-academic forms. We expected a detrimental impact of dyslexia on performance in academic but not in non-academic tasks. We also expected self-judgement to account for this difference. Students with dyslexia perceive themselves as less competent than students without dyslexia. Significantly, structural equation modeling revealed that students with dyslexia performed poorly in academic tasks, compared to students without dyslexia. This difference no longer appeared in non-academic tasks. Self-judgement of competence is a predictor of the performance of students with and without dyslexia at school and their impact is related to how the academic features of the tasks are emphasized.

Teachers' level of knowledge regarding autism and their attitudes towards inclusion are major levers for the successful schooling of autistic students. However, there are currently insufficient validated tools for evaluating these two concepts among teachers that are adapted to the French context and to the constraints of the classroom setting.This study was designed to test both the validity of The Autism Knowledge Screening Scale (AKSS) and of the Autism Attitude Scale for Teachers (AAST) among French teachers.Our final sample consisted of 307 French teachers (50.5% primary school teachers and 49.5% secondary school teachers).First, confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to test the two initial factor structures and an exploratory factor analysis was conducted regarding the AKSS. Second, criterion validity was assessed for each of the two scales.Concerning knowledge of autism, a two-factor model (8 items) explaining 53% of the variance was observed. The first factor represented knowledge about aetiology and the second represented knowledge about symptoms. Concerning attitudes towards autism, a one-factor model (14 items) exhibited good model fit (χThis study validated two quick-to-use tools for making an initial diagnosis of teachers' knowledge and attitudes regarding the school inclusion of autistic children. The use of these tools could help to fine-tune the content of training programs for teachers and test their efficacy, particularly in France where the inclusion of autistic children is still far from international standards.

International audience; In this theoretical article we present our hypothesis on the incompatibility of the inclusive education policy toward students with special educational needs with the meritocratic principle of education. If considering and recognizing the needs of these students is necessary to achieve a successful inclusive environment, we propose that this goal cannot be achieved within current educational systems driven by a meritocratic ideology. We base our rationale on social psychology theories such as system justification and backlash to argue that such incompatibility is particularly visible during the evaluation process. Finally, if we provide some incentives toward greater inclusion while considering the diverse contradictions such inclusivity generates, we also invite researchers to further empirically examine these contradictions in order to guide policy makers within their choices.

International audience

Background: Students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are less included within mainstream educational systems. We argued that teachers' attitudes toward their inclusion represent a key factor to understand this issue. Based on previous research showing that teachers are frequently reluctant to include them in mainstream education, we hypothesized that teachers' attitudes could be predicted by the specific difficulties faced by these students. Method: One thousand and sixty-four teachers were asked to express their attitudes toward the inclusion of students with ASD in an online questionnaire. The co-occurring difficulties that students with ASD could face were experimentally manipulated through brief information depicting five specific set of difficulties. Results: Teachers expressed more positive attitudes toward the inclusion of students with ASD with no difficulties, in comparison with those with behavioral difficulties, behavioral and cognitive difficulties, or those for whom difficulties were not specifiedthe control condition. Unexpectedly, teachers were not more positive regarding the inclusion of students with ASD with no difficulties in comparison with those with cognitive difficulties. Conclusions: Without specific information, it seems that teachers spontaneously associated ASD with behavioral difficulties and that teachers' attitudes were the most negative for students facing such difficulties (regardless of the presence or absence of cognitive difficulties). Nonetheless, by also suggesting that attitudes toward the inclusion of these students can be positive, these results seem to corroborate that the use of broader categories like "students with ASD" could be discussed.

The aim of the present study is to analyze social judgment express towards employees according to their disability (i.e., disabled employee vs. able-bodied employee) and to the emotion they express (i.e., anger vs. sadness).

Face à la diversité des besoins et des difficultés vécues par les étudiants pour réussir dans l’université française, en particulier ceux en situation de handicap, notre étude s’intéresse à l’approche de la conception universelle de l’apprentissage comme démarche pédagogique favorisant des parcours universitaires réussis. Cette recherche analyse les pratiques pédagogiques qui paraissent favorables aux enseignants-chercheurs pour prendre en compte l’hétérogénéité des besoins des étudiants, notamment des étudiants en situation de handicap. Il s’agit également d’avoir une meilleure connaissance des pratiques pédagogiques actuelles à l’Université de Strasbourg en matière de prise en compte des difficultés rencontrées par les étudiants.

The aim is to examine whether the compensatory judgments generally observed concerning social targets located in the low competence high warmth quadrant of the Big Two bi-dimensional are genuine or whether a more derogatory picture emerges when perceivers are guided by a norm of honesty, rather than a non-dicrimination norm. This sensitivity to the norm should manifest itself more among people high on external motivation to respond without prejudice than among people low on external motivation to respond without prejudice. Next to the external motivation to respond without prejudice, we will explore the potential impact of self-monitoring, as this individual difference may also play a role in people’s tendency to repress prejudice as a function of the salient norm.We will present results of a fake survey dealing with the importance given to honesty (vs non-discrimination) when talking about others. Participants (students) will learn that this study was conducted among students of the previous year. Then, we will ask participants to rate seven target groups (Black, disabled, elderly, housewives, obese, peasant, gypsies) on the two fundamental dimensions of social evaluation (warmth and competence). These specific groups were pilot tested to be perceived as warmer than average and less competent than average. Importantly, we will measure participants’ external motivation to respond without prejudice (and self-monitoring) approximately two weeks before participants will take part in the experiment proper.

Background The involvement of the central nervous system is not rare in rheumatoid diseases. Even though children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) may face academic difficulties until adulthood, very few studies have evaluated potential cognitive disorders in these patients. The present research aims to thoroughly investigate the cognitive and neuropsychological functioning of these patients.MethodsWe measured the cognitive profile of JIA patients via their neuropsychological profile, implicit memory and social cognition skills, and estimated their academic performance using reading and mathematics tests. We recruited 21 children with JIA aged 6 to 17 years-old (M = 11.01, SD = 3.30) and 21 healthy children matched in age, gender, academic level (same school class) and socioeconomic status.Results Our results showed that the cognitive profile and estimated academic ability of JIA patients are similar to those of their peers. These results support the hypothesis that children with JIA have the same cognitive predispositions to succeed at school as any other pupil.ConclusionComparing our results with the existing literature, we propose complementary hypotheses for further research. Longitudinal studies seem to be necessary to understand the psychosocial and cognitive processes involved in the development of children with JIA.

National audience; La problématique de la réussite académique des étudiants dans l’université française interroge tout à la fois la question des publics et celles des actions mises en œuvre dans les établissements pour favoriser l’optimisation des parcours d’apprentissage et d’études. Dans une approche inclusive, le défi est de pouvoir accompagner tous les profils d’étudiants selon leurs besoins et leurs attentes, et en particulier ceux des étudiants en situation de handicap – déclarée ou non. Les effets des politiques en faveur de l’inclusion scolaire (Loi n° 2005-102 du 11 février 2005 pour l’égalité des droits et des chances, la participation et la citoyenneté des personnes handicapées, 2005) semblent cependant encore peu perçus et appropriés par les acteurs de l’enseignement supérieur, notamment en matière de pédagogie. Nous nous proposons de présenter deux études menées à l’université de Strasbourg sur cette question. La première interroge les opinions que portent les étudiants en situation de handicap sur les leviers et les freins de leur réussite académique. Cette étude montrent qu’ils identifient les pratiques pédagogiques à la fois comme essentielles à leur réussite et comme causes de leurs difficultés quand ces pratiques ne sont pas adaptées (Desanges, 2017). Notre deuxième étude s’intéresse aux pratiques pédagogiques qui paraissent favorables aux enseignants-chercheurs pour prendre en compte l’hétérogénéité des besoins des étudiants, notamment des étudiants en situation de handicap. Elle vise également à avoir une meilleure connaissance des pratiques pédagogiques actuelles en matière de prise en compte des difficultés rencontrées par les étudiants. L’étude fait apparaître une forte reconnaissance des besoins des étudiants et de la légitimité de leurs attentes. Elle révèle en même temps une assez rare prise en compte dans la pratique des situations spécifiques rencontrées en classe.

Le double objectif de cette recherche a ete de mettre en evidence l'impact des interactions sociales dans les prises de decisions en radiotherapie et d'identifier en quoi ces decisions peuvent etre liees a des risques potentiels pour le patient. Pour ce faire, nous avons analyse l'activite reelle de preparation des traitements des patients au sein d'un service de radiotherapie. Les resultats de notre analyse ont fait apparaitre huit situations dans lesquelles des decisions doivent etre prises, dont la moitie sont sous l'influence des interactions entre professionnels et avec les patients, et qui presentent toutes des risques potentiels pour la sante de ces derniers. Cette analyse de terrain met donc en evidence la necessite de prendre en compte les echanges sociaux informels dans l'identification des risques inherents aux soins en radiotherapie et propose une analyse plus specifique des mecanismes psychosociaux en jeu.

The present research further extends recent data revealing implicit attitude towards persons with disability, with the aim to explore if meditation practice can reduce automatic mental processes initiating prejudice. Forty adult experienced meditators and 34 meditation-naive individuals performed an evaluative priming task. None of them presented any disability. Results show important discrepancies between control and meditation practicing participants: subliminal disability-priming inhibited evaluation of positive words and facilitated evaluation of negative words in the control group, thus revealing the presence of an implicit prejudice toward people with disability. In the meditator group, a quite different pattern of results emerged: disability-priming did not affect the evaluation of words, whether positive or negative. These findings suggest that meditation practice could deter automatised categorisation. They provide a hopeful message in the limited current armamentarium for decreasing nega...

Objectives This article examines whether sports practice can influence the stereotype content associated with people with physical disability from the viewpoint of people without disability. Design Both implicit and explicit stereotypes were assessed for people with disability compared with people without disability (Study 1), people with disability who engage in sport compared with people without disability (Study 2), and people with disability who engage in sport compared with people with disability (Study 3). Method Participants (NStudy1 = 57, NStudy 2 = 61, NStudy 3 = 63) performed a warmth-Implicit Association Test and a competence-Implicit Association Test and were asked to rate how strongly they associated a series of warmth and competence traits with one or the other group of people. Results In Study 1, people with disability were implicitly associated with less positivity and explicitly associated with higher warmth but lower competence than people without disability. The same results were found in Study 2. In Study 3, people with disability who engage in sport were explicitly associated with higher warmth and competence than people with disability but this result failed to emerge at an implicit level. Conclusions The influence of practicing sport on the stereotype content associated with people with physical disability seems less consistent than has been assumed thus far. The results suggest the need for further study of the implicit stereotype content concerning people with disability and the types of information that might weaken the link between disability and negativity.

Positive judgments on the Self are good predictors of academic achievement. It could be useful to benefit from an instrument able to assess how pupils elaborate self-judgments. So far, such a tool does not exist. The purpose of the present study was to develop a self-report measure of social judgment for children at school (the School Social Judgment Scale—SSJS). 660 pupils completed a questionnaire addressing 12 socio-academic behaviors. An exploratory factor analysis highlighted a four-factor structure of social judgment (Assertiveness, Competence, Effort and Agreeability). A Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) provided further support for this model, both in terms of factorial and construct validity. Reliability ranged from questionable to good depending on SSJS subscales. Multigroup CFA revealed invariance of the SSJS across gender and showed that boys had higher scores than girls for the assertiveness scale. Overall, the SSJS represents an efficient tool to better understand how social judgment for children works. As such, it could assist professionals of education to develop suitable educational support to assist poorly performing children at school.

International audience; Building on the two fundamental dimensions of social judgment distinguishing communion from agency, the purpose of the present work was to show that the strength of the relationship between social status and agency depends on specific component at issue: assertiveness, competence and effort. Four experimental studies were conducted using two complementary paradigms. In Studies 1 and 2, we manipulated social status and participants had to rate the target on competence, assertiveness, and effort. In Studies 3 and 4, we reversed the design. Results consistently showed that social status was primarily related to assertiveness, somewhat related to competence, and only slightly related to effort. The present research provides a better understanding of how the dimensions of social judgment are used to explain differences in social status.