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Prejudice against and desired social distance from refugees, people with mental illness and patients with COVID-19 in athens

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 August 2021

L.E. Peppou ,
A. Bechraki ,
G. Petraki ,
M. Marouga ,
D. Mareta ,
K. Kontoangelos  and
M. Economou
L.E. Peppou*
Affiliation:
Unit Of Social Psychiatry & Psychosocial Care, University Mental Health, Neurosciences and Precision Medicine Research Institute “Costas Stefanis” (UMHRI), Athens, Greece
A. Bechraki
Affiliation:
First Department Of Psychiatry, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
G. Petraki
Affiliation:
First Department Of Psychiatry, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
M. Marouga
Affiliation:
First Department Of Psychiatry, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
D. Mareta
Affiliation:
First Department Of Psychiatry, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
K. Kontoangelos
Affiliation:
First Department Of Psychiatry, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
M. Economou
Affiliation:
Unit Of Social Psychiatry & Psychosocial Care, University Mental Health, Neurosciences and Precision Medicine Research Institute “Costas Stefanis” (UMHRI), Athens, Greece First Department Of Psychiatry, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

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Introduction

Stigma is omnipresent in human societies, both globally and historically; while it is also discerned in other primates. On these grounds, it has been suggested to be the product of natural selection and therefore to protect against threats to effective group functioning. Nonetheless, in contemporary society, stigma raises fundamental ethical concerns, while it actually impinges on public health

Objectives

To explore prejudicial attitudes and desired social distance from recovered COVID-19 patients, people with mental illness and refugees in Athens region.

Methods

A convenience sample of 360 residents of Athens region participated in the study, after being recruited from social media. The questionnaire was distributed online and encompassed: i) the Prejudicial Attitudes Survey, (ii) the Social Distance scale, (iii) the Interpersonal Reactivity Index and information about respondents’ socio-demographic characteristics and personal experience with the three population subgroups. The stigma measures were included three times, one for each out-group.

Results

Repeated ANOVA revealed that negative attitudes were predominantly expressed for refugees. On the contrary, positive attitudes were predominantly expressed for people with mental illness. Interestingly, desired social distance was greater from people with mental illness (mean = 32.37) compared to refugees (mean = 25.47) and recovered COVID-19 patients (mean = 24.17).

Conclusions

Stigma towards people with mental illness and refugees is still prevalent in Greece. Anti-stigma efforts should target prejudices in the case of refugees and social distance in the case of mental illness. To date, no stigma attached to COVID-19 has been discerned in the country

Disclosure

No significant relationships.

Keywords

social stigmaRefugeesMental illnesscoronavirus
Type
Abstract
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 64 , Special Issue S1: Abstracts of the 29th European Congress of Psychiatry , April 2021 , pp. S119
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association
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