Resource: "The use of puppets with elementary school children in reducing stigmatizing attitudes towards mental illness”
DOI: 10.1080/09638230701299160
Developers/Authors: Nancy Pitre, Sandra Stewart, Susan Adams, Terry Bedard & Suzette Landry
Anti Stigma Puppet Show Study
Anti-stigma study of elementary school students
“[...] Most anti-stigma campaigns have been directed at adults or adolescents. We targeted children in order to evaluate the effectiveness of a puppet program to reduce stigmatizing attitudes in grades 3–6 students. [...] The experimental group watched a series of three plays in which hand puppets portrayed individuals with schizophrenia, depression/anxiety, and dementia. The plays were designed to challenge stereotypes and erroneous beliefs regarding mental illness, while appealing to children.”
Key Findings
This anti-stigma puppet show intervention receives a rating of ‘3C’
This study can illustrate overall levels of stigma by measuring six sub-domains of attitudes toward mental illness (MI):
- Benevolence - a ‘kind’ orientation toward people with MI
- Separatism - emphasis toward distinctiveness of people with MI, and a desire for social distance.
- Stereotyping - perceptions of people with MI having stereotypical traits
- Restrictiveness - the perception that people with MI are threatening, and should have restricted social participation before and/or after hospitalization
- Pessimistic Prediction - the perception that people with MI are unlikely to improve
- Social Stigmatization - the perception that MI is shameful, and those with MI should conceal their condition(s).
The puppet show produced statistically significant, and favorable results for three stigmatizing attitudes measured; Separatism, Restrictiveness, and Social Stigmatization. However, Benevolence, Stereotyping, and Pessimistic Prediction showed statistically insignificant changes compared to baseline measurements taken before the puppet show. It should be noted that a control group of students who did not participate in the intervention had these attitudes measured over the same period of time, and produced no significant changes whatsoever. This speaks to the potential effectiveness of the intervention on three stigmatizing attitudes.
This intervention has been shown to have significant positive effects on the following key-pillars of Mental Health Literacy:
- Knowledge
- Help Seeking
- Stigma
- Obtaining & Maintaining Positive Mental Health
- Recognition of Mental Disorders
Knowledge, Obtaining & Maintaining Positive Mental Health, Recognition of Mental Disorders, and Help Seeking were not quantitatively measured in the relevant literature. Thus we have no insight into this program’s efficacy with respect to these key pillars.
This program was purpose-built for an academic study evaluating the impact of a puppet show on stigmatizing attitudes among grades 3-6 students. There appears to be no trajectory toward developing this intervention into a generalizable or externally accessible MHL program. At present, details of this program are only available in the academic manuscript. Please see the ‘Resource/Manuscript’ tab at the top of this page for the study name and distinct object identifier (DOI) if you wish to study, adapt, or attempt implementation of this presentation. However, we do not consider this program suitable for dissemination at this time.
For more information on our scoring system, criteria, and outcomes for this study, please see the Evaluation Process & Scoring page
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