Resources (Training Manual, Volume 1 & 2): Open the Doors
Developers: World Psychiatric Association & Open the Doors
Open the Doors - Global Program
Open the Doors - Global Program (Open The Doors) is a Schizophrenia anti-stigma initiative developed by the World Psychiatric Association to help guide the creation of anti-stigma programs. The initiative provides in-depth information and recommendations for those wishing to develop anti stigma programs for schizophrenia (Training Manual), recommendations for implementing programs (Volume 1), and information about schizophrenia to guide program development (Volume 2). Open the Doors does not provide ready-made programs for implementation, but provides an extremely extensive knowledge base for individuals and/or organizations to create their own anti-stigma intervention for a chosen audience.
Key Findings
Open the Doors receives a score of 2C.
Academic experts in mental health and stigma built and tested a school-based program in Greece that followed the recommendations of Opening the Doors and the Calgary Action Committee. The program demonstrated significant effectiveness in decreasing the stigma of Schizophrenia among secondary school youth in Greece, but did not provide evidence of sustained positive outcomes (up to, or beyond one year). As such, our team has reservations about the potential long-term effectiveness of programs built upon the recommendations of Open the Doors.
This resource is not a curriculum in and of itself. Rather, it is a methodology and collection of recommendations to guide creation and development of anti-stigma programs. The size and complexity (several hundred pages of raw-text in total) render it an unlikely resource of choice for most end-users outside of academia. As such, we consider it unprepared for widespread dissemination.
Open the Doors 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, Help Seeking, Obtaining & Maintaining Positive Mental Health, Recognition of Mental Disorders, Stigma, and Help Seeking were not measured in the literature evaluating this program. Thus we have no insight into this program’s efficacy with respect to these key pillars.
The program supports the creation and development of anti-stigma programs for Schizophrenia, and more broadly mental illness’ in general. The training manual provides valuable information on creating and maintaining an ecosystem to support the development and proliferation of anti-stigma programs, such as gaining support from high-value stakeholders and forming oversight committees. It also provides recommendations on funding models and contextually developing programs to the readers chosen target audience.
The relevant volumes of this resource are several-hundred pages long when combined, and are comprised primarily of raw-text without graphics or interactable multimedia (ie. videos, redirect links).
For more information on our scoring system, criteria, and outcomes for Open the Doors, please see the Evaluation Process & Scoring page
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