The project titled “Awareness Scale for Stigmatization in Mental Illnesses”, in which Res. Asst. Merve İNAN BUDAK of our Nursing Department and our 4th-year Nursing Department student Gizem TAŞAN will take part, has been entitled to receive support within the scope of TÜBİTAK 2209-A Projects.
The aim of the project is to determine the awareness levels of the society towards stigmatization behaviors against mental illnesses. The scale, which will be developed in the light of the literature, will be applied to the volunteer participants after it is submitted to expert opinion. With the answers given, the attitudes of the society towards mental illnesses will be determined and awareness of stigmatization behaviors will be created.
While the project team revealed that people with significant mental health disorders are often noticed in society through their speech and actions, they stated that these differences cause certain social attitudes towards them. The project team stated that the unpredictable and unorthodox behaviors of individuals both disrupt the current order and cause anxiety in the society, adding that the project will hopefully awareness about the issue.
She stated that through the findings to be obtained with the project, individuals with psychiatric illness will reduce the internalized stigma that affects many aspects of their life such as social interaction, self-esteem and relationships, and that the psychological well-being levels of the patients will increase with the changing approaches of the society and contribute to the protection of public health.