Activism against stigma: Exploring awareness-raising activities in the healthcare context
Abstract
Stigma suffered by people labelled with mental health diagnoses is something frequent within the healthcare context. Anti-stigma organizations and campaigns have focused their efforts on reducing discrimination in this area. The activist figure is fundamental for people who have experienced this stigma to be the protagonists of this change. Our aim in this study has been to deepen the experience that anti-stigma activists in mental health have when participating in actions to raise awareness in the healthcare context. We carried out a thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews conducted with five activists. We identified two thematic blocks: Stigma and Activism. The Stigma block consists of the themes Prejudice, Discriminatory Behaviours, and Self-Stigma, while the Activism block is composed of the themes Positive Effects, Strategies, and Impact. The present study has allowed us to have deeper knowledge of the subjective experiences of stigma in the healthcare field through the experience of participants in campaigns to combat it, and to understand why activism can be a beneficial strategy to raise awareness among professionals and for the well-being and empowerment of the activists themselves.
Keywords
Activism, Thematic analysis, Social stigma, Mental healthReferences
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