Using counterframing strategies to enhance anti-stigma campaigns related to mental illness

• Published in: Social science & medicine (1982) Vol. 258; p. 113090
• Main Authors: Vyncke, Bart, Van Gorp, Baldwin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.08.2020; Pergamon Press Inc
• Subjects: Anti-stigma campaign; Belgium; Campaigns; Cognition; Cognitive closure; Effectiveness; Framing effects; Humans; Internalized stigma; Intervention; Mass media effects; Mental Disorders; Mental illness; Need for cognitive closure; Public stigma; Social distance; Social Stigma; Stereotypes; Stereotyping; Stigma; Strategies; Variants; Belgium; Public stigma; Belgium; Internalized stigma; Anti-stigma campaign; Framing effects; Need for cognitive closure; Mental illness
• ISSN: 0277-9536; 1873-5347
• DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113090

Despite the prevalence of media-based anti-stigma campaigns, there is little empirical evidence of their effectiveness and little guidance regarding which communicative strategies can bolster their message. Using a Belgian sample (N = 737) recruited in March–April 2019, the current experimental study manipulated a campaign message using counterframing strategies. Hierarchical linear regression analyses were used to investigate the effectiveness of the resulting nine variants. Campaign effectiveness was most increased by stating that people with a mental illness are “not free-riders or poseurs”, or by redefining them as “go-getters” who are “certainly not abnormal or crazy”. These variants decreased desired social distance, and significantly reduced stereotype endorsement for people with a high need for cognitive closure. Whereas several campaigns decreased attitudinal stigma for people with a high need for cognitive closure, they inadvertently increased it for people with a low need for cognitive closure. This study indicates that small changes in the body copy can impact a campaign's destigmatizing potential. As such, empirical testing is essential to avoid ineffective or counter-productive anti-stigma interventions. Moreover, this study demonstrates that refuting stigmatizing statements can be a valid strategy in anti-stigma interventions, even though previous literature has argued against it. •Culturally embedded framing can bolster the effectiveness of anti-stigma messages.•Negating stigmatizing ideas can decrease stigma, with or without redefinition.•The campaigns were most effective for people with high need for cognitive closure.•Small variations to the body copy's wording can significantly alter effectiveness.•Prior empirical testing is recommended before launching anti-stigma campaigns.