International Journal of Social Psychiatry最新文献

{"title":"An observational study of socioeconomic disparities in psychiatry consultation uptake in Australia, using routinely collected national data from 2015 to 2022.","authors":"Edward Meehan, Thomas Yeatman, Frances Shawyer, Darren Rajit, Vinay Lakra, Graham Meadows, Joanne Enticott","doi":"10.1177/00207640241311846","DOIUrl":"10.1177/00207640241311846","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The COVID-19 pandemic was associated with increased psychological distress and psychiatric service usage in Australia. Previous research into the first few months of the pandemic found severe inequality in telehealth psychiatry but no change in inequality for psychiatry service usage overall. However, it is unknown how inequality evolved over the remainder of the pandemic, as extended lockdowns continued in major Australian cities.</p><p><strong>Aims: </strong>To understand how socioeconomic inequality in psychiatric consultations changed during the COVID-19 pandemic, using new data from 2020 to 2022.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We analysed routinely collected national Medicare data, provided to us as service counts per Statistical Area 3 (SA3) region by financial year from 2015 to 2016 to 2021 to 2022. We calculated daily rates of psychiatry attendances per 100,000 working age adults within each SA3 region, and we evaluated inequality in the distribution of consults using concentration indices and curves based on the Index of Relative Socio-economic Disadvantage (IRSD).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>We analysed 7 years of Medicare data from 321 SA3 regions. The national consultation rate increased in 2020 to 2021 from 45.16 to 50.17, and then decreased slightly in 2021 to 22 to 48.65. Inequality as measured by concentration indices rose from 0.169 in 2020 to 2021 to 0.177 in 2021 to 2022. Consultation rates in the most disadvantaged IRSD quintile decreased by 15.9% in 2021 to 2022 compared to smaller decreases of between 1% and 4% in the top 4 quintiles.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Our study shows that inequality in mental health service provision increased in the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic to the highest level seen in the 7 years of data we analysed. Individuals within the most disadvantaged IRSD quintile experienced a significant and disproportionate decline in service rates. Close monitoring and more granular data are needed to understand the drivers behind this inequity and its current status, and to inform interventions to improve it.</p>","PeriodicalId":14304,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Social Psychiatry","volume":" ","pages":"945-953"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12284337/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143004887","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Domestic and external violence, parental neglect, and social sanctions among crack users: A cross-sectional study exploring the role of gender.","authors":"Joana Corrêa de Magalhães Narvaez, Josiane Rocha Carvalho, Vinícius Serafini Roglio, Luiza Corrêa de Magalhães Dutra, Félix Kessler, Antonio Ventriglio, Flavio Pechansky","doi":"10.1177/00207640241307869","DOIUrl":"10.1177/00207640241307869","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Substance Use Disorders are often associated with significant levels of domestic and external violence registered among abusers. This investigation aimed to evaluate the Domestic Violence Involvement (DVI) and related gender differences among Crack Cocaine Users in Brazil.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>For this purpose, a secondary data analysis of a multicenter cross-sectional study involving 780 Crack Cocaine Users from 6 Brazilian capitals was performed.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The prevalence of DVI among abusers was not different between males and females. Crack-cocaine users with DVI versus without DVI experienced significantly more aggressions and beatings as victims throughout their life (54.7% vs. 40.5%), showed greater difficulty in controlling the impulse to assault or hurt someone throughout their life (65% vs. 36.4%), higher number of physical aggressions (25.9% vs. 11.6%), car theft (27.3% vs. 16.9%), violent crimes (12.9% vs. 6.2%). Men also reported a higher prevalence of detentions/arrests (61%) than women, while women were more frequently charged over their parental powers than men.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Our findings suggested that DVI in Crack-Cocaine users may be a potential predictor of social violence in general with no significant differences between males and females. Legal punishments remain related to the cultural role assigned to each gender with men being more likely to be detained in their lives and women being reported more for parental neglect.</p>","PeriodicalId":14304,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Social Psychiatry","volume":" ","pages":"853-862"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142894520","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A cross-sectional survey of psychiatrists' experiences of using telepsychiatry during the COVID-19 pandemic and the relationship with burnout in selected high, middle, and low-income countries.","authors":"Fairouz Tawfik, Howard Ryland, Mostafa Yosef, Mahmoud Morsy, Fransiska Kaligis, Camille Noël, Mohamed Abdulhakim, Victor Mazereel, Irena Rojnić Palavra, Andrej Prošev, Andrea Fiorillo, Gaia Sampogna, Xenia Margarita Durán, Jesús David Martínez Jurado, Islam Ibrahim","doi":"10.1177/00207640241308197","DOIUrl":"10.1177/00207640241308197","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated substantial modifications in the delivery of patient care on a global scale. Telemedicine-based care services were implemented worldwide to maximize access to healthcare systems.</p><p><strong>Aims: </strong>This study aimed to investigate the use of and satisfaction with telepsychiatry services implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic by psychiatrists across low, middle, and high income countries, and to assess levels of burnout among psychiatrists providing telepsychiatry services in different settings and countries. We hypothesized that use of telepsychiatry will have increased during the pandemic and is associated with increased risk of burnout.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A cross-sectional survey was conducted from October 2020 to June 2021 on psychiatrists practicing in Egypt, United Kingdom, Croatia, Belgium, Indonesia, Italy, and El Salvador. Participants were asked to provide sociodemographic data and to complete a questionnaire developed ad-hoc by the authors on telepsychiatry use, the Modified Arizona Telemedicine Program Satisfaction (MATPS) survey and the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory questionnaire.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>A total of 347 participants completed the survey. Sixty three percent indicated that they had not utilized teleservices for clinical consultation or academic purposes prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. A substantial shift was observed during the pandemic, with this percentage increasing to 98%. Over two-thirds of psychiatrists expressed satisfaction with the visual (76%) and audio (77%) aspects of teleconsultation. No significant correlation was found between burnout and satisfaction. While older age was negatively correlated with burnout levels, years of experience showed a positive correlation with levels of burnout.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>While there was an increased acceptance and satisfaction with teleconsultation, a persistent preference for in-person consultations remained. The study did not find a correlation between satisfaction in telepsychiatry and levels of burnout. Moreover, increasing age was correlated with lower burn out rate, whereas a correlation between years of experience and heightened levels of burnout was evident.</p>","PeriodicalId":14304,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Social Psychiatry","volume":" ","pages":"954-967"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143023261","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Prevalence and predictors of positive childhood experiences and their relationship with adverse childhood experiences among young adults in Delhi-NCR, India.","authors":"Vineet Chaudhary, Gagandeep Kaur Walia, Naorem Kiranmala Devi, Kallur Nava Saraswathy","doi":"10.1177/00207640241310188","DOIUrl":"10.1177/00207640241310188","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Although positive childhood experiences (PCEs) have been reported to be crucial for healthy development and better mental and physical health outcomes, their epidemiology and relationship with adverse childhood experiences (ACE) exposure in low and middle-income countries, including India remain underexplored.</p><p><strong>Aims: </strong>The present study aimed to ascertain the prevalence and predictors of PCE exposure and understand the relationship between PCE and ACE exposure among young adults in Delhi-NCR, India.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>The present cross-sectional study involved a total of 1,573 young adults (18-25 years) of both sexes (69.7% females) recruited from two Universities in Delhi-NCR, India. PCEs and ACEs were measured using the Benevolent Childhood Experiences scale and ACE-International Questionnaire.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Of the total participants, 42.6% reported experiencing all 10 PCEs, while 50.2% had experienced 6 to 9, and 7.2% had experienced 0 to 5 PCEs. Further, the mean PCE score of the sample was 8.64. Certain sociodemographic groups, for instance, participants from immigrant families, sexual minority groups and those who were obese during childhood than their respective counterparts were at lower odds of high PCE exposure. Also, the study found a significant inverse correlation between ACE and PCE exposure levels; however, the effect size was moderate.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The study indicates the need for targeted PCE promotion interventions for disadvantaged sociodemographic groups. The intervention should simultaneously aim at reducing ACEs, as PCE promotion alone may not always lead to ACE reduction.</p>","PeriodicalId":14304,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Social Psychiatry","volume":" ","pages":"932-944"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142948908","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"'Constantly invalidated by an intolerant and uncaring world': Perceived etiology of suicidal thoughts among transgender, nonbinary, and gender expansive black, indigenous, and other people of color.","authors":"Álvaro Gamio Cuervo, Michelle Del Rio","doi":"10.1177/00207640251323038","DOIUrl":"10.1177/00207640251323038","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Transgender, nonbinary, gender-expansive (TNGE) Black, Indigenous, and Other People of Color (BIPOC) have one of the highest rates of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts. As recommended by the cultural framework of suicide, examining culturally relevant lay beliefs and attitudes, such as community perspectives on where suicidal ideation originates, is integral for suicide prevention. Doing so may aide in identifying avenues of support for TNGE BIPOC with chronic suicidal ideation.</p><p><strong>Aims: </strong>This study aimed to examine how TNGE BIPOC community members perceive the etiological foundation of suicidal ideation.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>Short-answer responses were collected from 110 participants in a national cross-sectional survey within the United States. Data were analyzed utilizing a directed content analysis approach to thematically categorize etiological factors.</p><p><strong>Result: </strong>Participants described four major areas regarding perceived etiology of suicidal thoughts including: (1) chronic trauma and stress; (2) societal and cultural expectations; (3) biological factors; and (4) structural oppression. The most salient etiological factor was structural oppression which was endorsed by 60% of the sample.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Results suggest that experiences of structural oppression should be incorporated in assessing TNGE BIPOC clients' beliefs about suicide and suicide prevention, given its relative saliency within this sample. Further research is needed to adequately understand how cumulative stress and social-cultural expectations impact the development of suicidal ideation among TNGE BIPOC.</p>","PeriodicalId":14304,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Social Psychiatry","volume":" ","pages":"984-992"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143491957","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Mental health is still a human right during times of war.","authors":"Joseph El-Khoury, Haneefa Merchant, Audrey McMahon, Julio Torales, Mia Atoui, Antonio Ventriglio, Helena Ferreira Moura, Yunyu Xiao, João M Castaldelli-Maia, Rachel Tribe, Mike Campbell, Myrna Lashley, Joana Corrêa de Magalhães Narvaez, Khalid A Mufti, Tarek Okasha, Padmavati Ramachandran, Davendranand Sharma, Albert Persaud, Afzal Javed, Dinesh Bhugra","doi":"10.1177/00207640251331856","DOIUrl":"10.1177/00207640251331856","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":14304,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Social Psychiatry","volume":" ","pages":"817-819"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144002342","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Outcome of wage and self-employment intervention for persons with severe mental illness availing rural community-based rehabilitation project: Experience from South India.","authors":"Thanapal Sivakumar, Shanivaram K Reddy, Aarti Jagannathan, Channaveerachari Naveen Kumar, Jagadisha Thirthalli, Shyam K Bhat","doi":"10.1177/00207640241307844","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00207640241307844","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The World Health Organization advocates Community-Based Rehabilitation (CBR) for resource-constrained settings. There is a need for evidence-based models of employment for persons with severe mental illness (referred to as \"patients\") from such settings.</p><p><strong>Aims: </strong>To facilitate and study the employment outcome of patients aged 18 to 50 y, availing a rural CBR project in South India.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Of 98 consented patients, only three men chose wage employment, and eighty-nine chose self-employment. Patients seeking wage employment were offered training and job placement in the nearest metropolitan city. Ten patients were offered loans for self-employment as revolving funds without collateral through the family federation of persons with mental illness. The patients and families were followed up for 10 months after recruitment into intervention. The AIMS-SEEP tool assessed the impact on families that availed of loans.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>All three men who chose wage employment in the city discontinued it. Two of ten families did not use it for the intended purpose, and one loan was written off. Seven families chose sheep rearing, and one bought a tailoring machine. Self-employment was a secondary source of income for families and was used for food, clothes, school expenses, health-related costs, household items, and debt repayment. The attendance at monthly meetings of the family federation has more than tripled since loans were issued. Families reported no adverse effects due to the intervention. Only three out of eight families had repaid the loan completely at the end of 10 months. Reasons cited for delay in loan repayment were hospital expenses for a sick family member and children's school expenses.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>In impoverished rural areas, patients and their families prefer self-employment locally over shifting to the city for wage employment. Suggestions for implementing livelihood interventions in other resource-constrained settings are discussed. Families must own the initiative to ensure its sustainability.</p>","PeriodicalId":14304,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Social Psychiatry","volume":"71 5","pages":"875-881"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144690188","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Geopsychiatry from below: Exploratory review and preliminary analysis.","authors":"Cheryl McGeachan, Chris Philo","doi":"10.1177/00207640251317017","DOIUrl":"10.1177/00207640251317017","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>This contribution advances claims about 'geopsychiatry from below', attending to how 'voices' with lived experience of mental ill-health speak about 'the geo' or, more specifically, 'place and space'.</p><p><strong>Aims: </strong>To explore relevant interdisciplinary literature for academic research, scholarship and commentary containing voices of experience speaking about the geo.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>An 'indicative' and 'facilitative' review of relevant transdisciplinary literature in arts and humanities and social science, alongside an exploratory workshop where materials are analysed and relationships detected and, provisionally, mapped.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The literature review discloses no coherent body of studies into the geo from below, but rather a fragmented amalgam of materials-field observations, primary quotes and occasional elaborations-that are rarely the direct focus of inquiry (except in some contributions by academic geographers). Combining the literature review and the workshop analysis, an outline series of prompts are developed for relating 'Kinds of Places', their associated 'Affective Qualities' and actual spaces and places on the ground.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>This study signals what a geopsychiatry from below might entail, providing important foundations for future transdisciplinary work on 'the geo' and mental (ill-)health.</p>","PeriodicalId":14304,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Social Psychiatry","volume":" ","pages":"820-834"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12284335/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143491873","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Are clinical improvements in large language models a reality? Longitudinal comparisons of ChatGPT models and DeepSeek-R1 for psychiatric assessments and interventions.","authors":"Alexander Smith, Michael Liebrenz, Dinesh Bhugra, Juan Grana, Roman Schleifer, Ana Buadze","doi":"10.1177/00207640251358071","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00207640251358071","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Potential clinical applications for emerging large-language models (LLMs; e.g. ChatGPT) are well-documented, and newer systems (e.g. DeepSeek) have attracted increasing attention. Yet, important questions endure about their reliability and cultural responsiveness in psychiatric settings.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This study explored the diagnostic accuracy, therapeutic appropriateness and cultural sensitivity of ChatGPT-4o, ChatGPT-4.5, and DeepSeek-R1 (all March 2025 versions). DeepSeek-R1 was evaluated for one of the first times in this context, and this also marks one of the first longitudinal inquiries into LLMs in psychiatry. Three psychiatric cases from earlier literature about sleep-related problems and cooccurring issues were utilised, allowing for cross-comparisons with a 2023 ChatGPT version, alongside culturally-specific vignette adaptations. Thus, overall, outputs for six scenarios were derived and were subsequently qualitatively reviewed by four psychiatrists for their strengths and limitations.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>ChatGPT-4o, ChatGPT-4.5, and DeepSeek-R1 showed modest improvements from the 2023 ChatGPT model but still exhibited significant limitations. Communication was empathetic and non-pharmacological advice typically adhered to evidence-based practices. Primary diagnoses were broadly accurate but often omitted somatic factors and comorbidities. Nevertheless, consistent with past findings, clinical reasoning worsened as case complexity increased; this was especially apparent for suicidality safeguards and risk stratification. Pharmacological recommendations frequently diverged from established guidelines, whilst cultural adaptations remained largely superficial. Finally, output variance was noted in several cases, and the LLMs occasionally failed to clarify their inability to prescribe medication.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Despite incremental advancements, ChatGPT-4o, ChatGPT-4.5 and DeepSeek-R1 were affected by major shortcomings, particularly in risk evaluation, evidence-based practice adherence, and cultural awareness. Presently, we conclude that these tools cannot substitute mental health professionals but may confer adjunctive benefits. Notably, DeepSeek-R1 did not fall behind its counterparts, warranting further inquiries in jurisdictions permitting its use. Equally, greater emphasis on transparency and prompt engineering would also be necessary for safe and equitable LLM deployment in psychiatry.</p>","PeriodicalId":14304,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Social Psychiatry","volume":" ","pages":"207640251358071"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-07-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144753338","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Stigma towards mental illness in Portuguese students of the integrated master's degrees in medicine, veterinary medicine and pharmaceutical sciences.","authors":"Beatriz V de Campos, Bárbara Almeida, Laetitia Teixeira, Alice Lopes","doi":"10.1177/00207640251353681","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00207640251353681","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Stigma towards mental illness is a problem faced by health science professionals, acting as a barrier to providing care and seeking help.</p><p><strong>Aims: </strong>The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare social stigma among Medical, Pharmacy and Veterinary students from the same university campus and assess the impact of their respective curricula on stigma levels.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>We performed an observational cross-sectional study, involving first and final-year students of the Integrated Master's in Medicine, Veterinary Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, from two Institutions of the University of Porto, Portugal. An online self-report questionnaire, using the preliminary Portuguese version of the Attribution Questionnaire AQ-27, was employed. Additionally, a brief sociodemographic questionnaire was administered, also inquiring about close contact with mental illness.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>A total of 182 students were considered for analysis. In terms of comparative analysis, first-year pharmacy students exhibited a higher score in the Segregation dimension compared to first-year veterinary medicine and final-year medicine students (<i>p</i> < .001). Younger age and a lower level of education corresponded to higher mean scores in the dimensions of Avoidance (<i>p</i> = .006 and .008) and Segregation (<i>p</i> < .001 for both). However, older students exhibited a lower mean score in the Pity dimension (<i>p</i> = .009). Students who did not report any close relationship with mental health problems demonstrate a higher mean score in the Avoidance dimension (<i>p</i> = .041), whereas those who cohabited with individuals with mental health problems demonstrated a lower mean score in the Segregation dimension (<i>p</i> = .014).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>This study emphasises the importance of critically design health sciences curricula to address mental health stigma, suggesting that structured evidence-based anti-stigma interventions, particularly those fostering empathy, may be essential to improve students' attitudes and promote more compassionate future healthcare practice.</p>","PeriodicalId":14304,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Social Psychiatry","volume":" ","pages":"207640251353681"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-07-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144759979","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}