How Academic Achievement Moderates the Relationship Between Self-Stigma and Depression Among College Students

Due to the prevalence and seriously negative consequences associated with mental illness stigma, a number of interventions have been developed to ameliorate the situation. Theatric performance and contact-based approaches represent promising modes of stigma-reduction intervention. One potential intervention that combines the contact and the artistic aspect is administering videos of people narrating about their experience of stigma, but no empirical evaluations have been published. This study examined the efficacy of a video of an individual diagnosed with bipolar disorder describing some general stereotypes and daily labeling experiences. Participants (N=38) were students from the USA, Taiwan, and India recruited by snowball sampling. They completed a pretest with a stigma and depression measure, along with questions about demographics and their GPA, then were randomly assigned to one of two video conditions: (1) the intervention video described above, or (2) an informational video with some facts about mood disorder. All then completed a depression and stigma measure post-test. Self-stigma scores increased in both conditions. Academic ability did not moderate the relationship between pretest and posttest scores in both conditions, although academic ability itself and the pretest stigma scores correlated positively and significantly with posttest scores. Brief video exposure requires additional careful evaluation of its efficacy before implementing widely.