Development and evaluation of a webinar to reduce stigma toward people with serious mental illness.

OBJECTIVE: This study involved the development, dissemination, and pre- and postassessment of a mental illness awareness webinar. The goal of the webinar is to educate the general public about serious mental illness (SMI) and reduce stigmatizing attitudes. METHOD: The study included 203 participants (n = 101 treatment group; n = 102 control group). Each completed a pretest and posttest measure of a mental illness stigma scale and a transphobia scale in this randomized control trial research design, along with a demographic form and participant feedback questionnaire. RESULTS: Results revealed that stigma was significantly reduced from pretest to posttest depending on group condition. Participant feedback reflected generally positive responses to the benefits of participating in the webinar in terms of feeling more knowledgeable about SMI in particular (75.5%). Furthermore, while prior contact with people with-and prior education about-SMI alone did not appear to significantly impact stigma scores from pre- to posttest, these variables did appear to have a significant interaction in their combined impact on stigma scores. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Findings suggest that the mental illness awareness training holds promise as an effective tool or reducing stigma among members of the general public. The electronic nature of the webinar allows for widespread and cost-effective dissemination and can also be tailored to meet the needs of specific populations such as law enforcement, first responders, and veterans to destigmatize SMI and improve treatment seeking. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Predicting voluntary and involuntary readmissions to forensic hospitals by insanity acquittees in Maryland.

The current study investigated factors associated with voluntary and involuntary readmissions to forensic hospitals 356 insanity acquittees on conditional release in the state of Maryland from 2007, 2008, and 2009 and monitored their community progress for a 3-year follow-up period. The results indicated that voluntarily readmitted insanity acquittees had fewer reported arrests on conditional release and fewer reported instances of non-compliance with treatment compared with insanity acquittees who were returned involuntarily to hospital. As expected, arrests and treatment non-compliance predicted involuntary readmission. A third group of insanity acquittees who were not readmitted on conditional release presented with numerous differences compared with voluntarily and involuntarily readmitted acquittees. These included a longer duration in the community prior to any psychiatric readmission and fewer community psychiatric admissions than both the voluntary and involuntary groups. Data from this study provide useful information on where community monitoring resources for insanity acquittees may best be allocated.