Teachers' Perceptions of Mental illness: Predicting Factors in the Stigma of Mental Illness

Abstract

Developing an understanding of teachers’ perceptions toward those with mental health challenges will be helpful in working to promote more positive attitudes about mental health and in reducing the development of stigmatizing attitudes in children. The present study primarily explored teachers’ stigmatizing attitudes toward those with mental illness and examined the predictive potential of three main factors (i.e., level of previous contact with someone with mental illness, previous education about mental illness, and teachers’ beliefs about the causes of mental illness). Using a cross-sectional, web-based survey design, 237 Saskatchewan teachers participated in the study. As expected, significant associations were found in two of the main factors: teachers’ beliefs about the causes of mental illness (endogenous and interactional) and the amount of previous contact teachers had with those who were perceived to have mental illness. Higher levels of previous contact and more extreme biological causal beliefs were associated with more stigmatizing attitudes whereas higher levels of social and interactional causal beliefs were associated with less stigmatizing attitudes. In contrast to what was expected, the third main factor investigating the relationship of previous training about mental illness was not significantly associated with stigmatizing beliefs about mental illness in teachers. The amount of previous contact with those who have mental illness and both endogenous and interactional causal beliefs about mental illness were found to be significant predictors of stigmatizing attitudes. Results provide important considerations for teachers’ professional development and school-based mental health efforts.