National Stigma Survey About Mental Illness, Intellectual Disability and Homelessness in Spain

National Stigma Survey About Mental Illness, Homelessness and Intellectual Disability in Spain

This project is framed within the "Complutense University of Madrid (UCM)-Group 5 Against Stigma Chair", of the Faculty of Psychology. The main objective of the Chair is to fight the stigma that affects people with mental disorders, disabilities, vulnerability or extreme social exclusion. For this purpose, the Chair is developing research studies, training programs, cultural activities and awareness campaigns, proof of this is the recent publication of the Guide to good practices against stigma, which, although it takes as a reference to the people with a diagnosis of mental disorder, it is expected to be generalizable to other groups.

Stigma is associated with the condition of being different, and affects any person belonging to a minority or vulnerable group, being one of the main obstacles to full participation in different social, political and cultural institutions. The fight against stigma is included in important international treaties, such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities or the European recommendations regarding the fight against social exclusion of people with mental health problems.

This study will focus on three groups of special social sensitivity, with clear stigmatizing conditions: people with mental health problems, people in a homeless situation and people with intellectual disabilities.

The primary aim of this research is to describe the stigma faced by people corresponding to three highly vulnerable population groups: people with mental health problems, homeless people and people with intellectual disabilities.

From this general aim, four different specific goals are derived: 1) To delve into the experience of stigma of these groups, from first person; 2) To develop a quantitative assessment instrument that captures the current needs and experiences of people from these groups; 3) To describe and compare the social stigma of these three groups in a representative Spanish sample; 4) To address, from a gender perspective, possible differences in terms of the variables explored in the populations under study.

Inclusion Criteria:

• People aged 18 and over from general population.
• Any gender.

Exclusion Criteria:

• People under 18 years old.