Psychosis Vol. 3, No. 1, February 2011, 41–51 ISSN 1752-2439 print/ISSN 1752-2447 online © 2011 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/17522431003735529 http://www.informaworld.com A mental health promotion approach to reducing discrimination about psychosis in teenagers Michelle Campbell* a,b , Nick Shryane c , Rory Byrne a,b and Anthony P. Morrison a,b a School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK; b Psychology Services, Greater Manchester West NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK; c Institute for Social Change, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK Taylor and Francis RPSY_A_474074.sgm (Received 29 December 2009; final version received 27 February 2010) 10.1080/17522431003735529 Psychosis 1752-2439 (print)/1752-2447 (online) Original Article 2010 Taylor & Francis 00 0000002010 Dr MichelleCampbell michelle.campbell@zen.co.uk Aim: To examine the effectiveness of a psychosocial mental health promotion workshop, involving an ex-service-user researcher, in reducing discrimination about psychosis in teenagers. Hypothesis: Pupils in the intervention condition will express less discrimination about a man characterised as having experienced psychosis immediately after the workshop and at follow-up, compared with pupils in the control condition. Method: A cluster randomised trial was carried out in order to take into account the effect of class group. Ninety-two pupils participated at baseline; 43 pupils were exposed to the intervention and 49 pupils formed the control group. Pupils completed demographic information, questions about their familiarity with people with mental health problems and a questionnaire examining discrimination about psychosis. Results: Multi-level modelling was used to analyse the results. Discrimination scores in the intervention group reduced significantly more than the control group immediately after the intervention. This effect was not sustained at 10-week follow-up. Brief qualitative feedback from pupils exposed to the intervention indicated that 70% considered the testimonial from the ex-service-user researcher to be the most useful. Conclusion: A short psychosocial intervention involving a testimonial from an ex-service user can lead to small but significant reductions in teenagers’ discrimination about psychosis immediately after the intervention. Keywords: discrimination; stigma; mental health promotion Introduction Discrimination about psychosis has been recognised as a worldwide social problem (Stuart, Arboleda-Florez, & Sartorious, 2005). Historically, the origins of such discrimination in Britain relate to the “treatment” of people with severe mental health problems in institutions called asylums (Arboleda-Florez, 2005). Asylums were closed establishments where people were isolated, locked away and removed from society. Such an approach gave the general public powerful messages about people with a label of psychosis: they are fundamentally different to the “ordinary” person, they must be treated in “separate” institutions, and they are dangerous so they are locked away to protect the public. *Corresponding author. Email: michelle.campbell@gmw.nhs.uk