Using counterframing strategies to enhance anti-stigma campaigns related to mental illness.

RATIONALE AND

METHODS

Despite the prevalence of media-based anti-stigma campaigns, there is little empirical evidence of their effectiveness and little guidance regarding which communicative strategies can bolster their message. Using a Belgian sample (N = 737) recruited in March-April 2019, the current experimental study manipulated a campaign message using counterframing strategies. Hierarchical linear regression analyses were used to investigate the effectiveness of the resulting nine variants.

RESULTS

Campaign effectiveness was most increased by stating that people with a mental illness are "not free-riders or poseurs", or by redefining them as "go-getters" who are "certainly not abnormal or crazy". These variants decreased desired social distance, and significantly reduced stereotype endorsement for people with a high need for cognitive closure. Whereas several campaigns decreased attitudinal stigma for people with a high need for cognitive closure, they inadvertently increased it for people with a low need for cognitive closure.

CONCLUSION

This study indicates that small changes in the body copy can impact a campaign's destigmatizing potential. As such, empirical testing is essential to avoid ineffective or counter-productive anti-stigma interventions. Moreover, this study demonstrates that refuting stigmatizing statements can be a valid strategy in anti-stigma interventions, even though previous literature has argued against it.