Changing Stigmatizing Perceptions and Recollections About Mental Illness: The Effects of NAMI's In Our Own Voice

In Our Own Voice (IOOV) is a 90-min anti-stigma program that comprises face-to-face stories of challenges of mental illness and hopes and dreams commensurate with recovery. We pared down IOOV to a 30-min version, using information from two focus groups. In this study, effects of 90- versus 30-min IOOV are contrasted with 30 min of education. Two hundred research participants were randomly assigned to one of these three conditions and completed a measure of stigmatizing perceptions and recollections. People in the education group remembered more negatives than the two IOOV groups. To control for overall response rate, a difference ratio was determined (difference in positive and negative recollection divided by overall recollections). Results showed the two IOOV conditions had significantly better ratios than education. These findings suggest the 30 min version of IOOV is as effective as the 90 min standard.