Dr. Chih Ming Tan’s and Dr. Brian Urlacher’s paper accepted in Health Education and Behavior.
We are pleased to announce that Dr. Chih Ming Tan’s and Dr. Brian Urlacher’s paper on “The Role of Rural and Urban Geography and Gender in Community Stigma around Mental Illness” has been accepted for publication in Health Education and Behavior. Health Education & Behavior is an official publication of the Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE). It is a peer-reviewed, bimonthly journal that publishes authoritative empirical research and commentary on critical health issues of interest to a broad range of professionals whose work involves understanding factors associated with health behavior and evidence-based social and behavioral strategies to improve health status.
This research was conducted by our two NCoBPA researchers in collaboration with Dr. Shawnda Schroeder (Center for Rural Health, SMHS) and Dr. Thomasine
Heitkamp (College of Nursing & Professional Disciplines). It showcases our college’s success in contributing to the University’s strategic goals under the Rural Health and Communities Grand Challenge.
In their work, the authors surveyed over 700 respondents in North Dakota who then completed the Day’s Mental Illness Stigma Scale, a nationally validated instrument for measuring mental health stigma. The findings indicate that for the majority of the seven stigma measures the Day’s Mental Illness Stigma Scale examines, the coefficient of rural-gender interactions was positive and highly significant with higher levels of stigma in rural areas. Females exhibited lower stigma perceptions than males. However, women living in rural areas held higher degrees of stigma compared to urban residing females. Implications of the study include the need to advance mental health literacy campaigns for males and people residing in rural communities. Additional empirical studies that examine the role of geography and gender in understanding stigma towards people with mental health disorders will result in improved treatment outcomes due to increased and focused educational efforts.
