Abstract
The stigma surrounding mental health remains a significant barrier to help-seeking and well-being in youth populations. The invisibility of mental health issues highlights the critical need for improved knowledge and stigma reduction, underscoring the urgency of tackling this issue. Arts-based interventions have shown promise in addressing stigma, yet comprehensive longitudinal studies in community settings are limited. This research evaluates the "WeARTolerance’’ arts-based program in reducing mental health stigma among diverse youths. The program integrated psychoeducational and creative activities (e.g., visual arts, cinema, music, and theatre) to explore mental health themes, with 125 teenagers and young adult participants (M = 13.70; SD = 2.06). The present mixed-method study was split into two phases with complementary objectives: 1) evaluate quantitatively the program’s impact in reducing social stigma and related outcomes; 2) explore in-depth qualitative feedback about the program. For the first phase, reliable self-report questionnaires were used to measure mental health knowledge, social stigma, intergroup anxiety, and social distance in pre-, post-, and 6-month follow-up periods. Participants’ age and past psychiatric issues were fixed factors with random intercepts, and mixed effects models were used to analyze the attitudinal outcomes across time. In the second phase of this validation, nine teenagers aged between 12 and 16 participated in two focus groups conducted three months after the program. Its contents underwent thorough analysis using content analysis techniques. The quantitative results from Phase 1 demonstrated a decreasing trend in all primary outcomes. In phase 2, participants acknowledged the activities’ relevance, reported overall satisfaction with the program, and showed great enthusiasm and willingness to learn more. Arts-based interventions like "WeARTolerance" are valuable for challenging stigma and fostering understanding in youth populations and provide an alternative and creative way to increase mental health literacy. The study proposes a program to reduce youth mental health stigma through arts-based elements, early intervention, and psychoeducation, involving collaborations between professionals and artists to promote youth engagement. Future studies should include indirect social contact and randomized controlled interventions.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | e0314994 |
| Journal | PLoS ONE |
| Volume | 19 |
| Issue number | 12 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Dec 2024 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2024 Beato et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Funding
This funded by La Caixa Foundation (LCF/ PR/SR22/52570002) and by Funda\u00E7\u00E3o para a Ci\u00EAncia e Tecnologia (FCT), under HEI-Lab R&D Unit (UIDB/05380/2020, https://doi.org/10.54499/ UIDB/05380/2020). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. We want to express our sincere gratitude to all the participants and their families who generously dedicated their time and effort to participate in this study. We extend our heartfelt thanks to the program assistants and teachers who played a vital role in the implementation and success of the program. We thank Margarida Braz\u00E3o, who had a vital role in the program\u2019s recruitment, website, and management. We are also thankful to the experts and stakeholders who provided their expertise and guidance throughout the development and execution of the program. Lastly, we greet our partners for their collaboration and commitment to this vital cause. This research was only possible with the collective efforts of all those involved. Thank you for your unwavering support and dedication to improving mental health outcomes for youth.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Fundación Bancaria Caixa d'Estalvis i Pensions de Barcelona | LCF/ PR/SR22/52570002 |
| Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia | UIDB/05380/2020 |