Stigma toward schizophrenia among parents of junior and senior high school students in Japan

BACKGROUND: Stigma toward schizophrenia is a substantial barrier to accessing care and adhering to treatment. Provisions to combat stigma are important, but in Japan and other developed countries there are few such provisions in place that target parents of adolescents. The attitudes of parents are important to address as first schizophrenic episodes typically occur in adolescence. In overall efforts to develop an education program and provisions against stigma, here we examined the relationship between stigma toward schizophrenia and demographic characteristics of parents of junior and senior high school students in Japan. The specific hypothesis tested was that contact and communication with a person with schizophrenia would be important to reducing stigma. A questionnaire inquiring about respondent characteristics and which included a survey on stigma toward schizophrenia was completed by 2690 parents. RESULTS: The demographic characteristics significantly associated with the Devaluation- Discrimination Measure were family income, occupation, presence of a neighbor with schizophrenia, and participation in welfare activities for people with mental illness (p < 0.05). The mean ± SD score was 32.74 ± 5.66 out of a maximum of 48 points on the Link Devaluation-Discrimination Measure. CONCLUSIONS: Stigma toward schizophrenia among parents of junior and senior high school students was in fact significantly stronger among members of the general public who had had contact with individuals with schizophrenia. In addition, stigma was associated with family income.