Changes in the ability to correctly identify schizophrenia and depression: results from general population surveys in Germany over 30 years.

Purpose: This study aims to examine time trends in the ability to correctly identify schizophrenia and major depression within the German general population from 1990 to 2020, as an indicator of changing mental health literacy (MHL). Additionally, we investigated shifts in the use of stigmatizing language.

Methods: Our analysis is based on four waves of representative population surveys in Germany in 1990/1993 (West Germany: N = 2044, East Germany: N = 1563), 2001 (N = 5025), 2011 (N = 2455), and 2020 (N = 3042) using identical methodology.

Public attitudes towards protecting the human rights of people with mental illness: a scoping review and data from a population trend study in Germany.

The human rights of people with mental illness are constantly threatened. We conduct a scoping review showing how public attitudes towards protecting human rights have so far been examined and providing an overview of our present knowledge of these attitudes, and present novel findings from a trend study in Germany over nine years, reporting attitudes elicited in 2020 and examining whether these attitudes have changed since 2011. Few studies address attitudes towards human rights explicitly, but several studies contain single items on either first generation human rights, mainly concerning involuntary admission, or civil liberties like the right to vote, or second generation human rights, mainly with regard to funding for healthcare, but also for example regarding career choice.

Changes in mental illness stigma over 30 years - Improvement, persistence, or deterioration?

Background: Large efforts have been made to erase the stigma of mental illness, but it is unclear whether they have succeeded on a population level. We examine how attitudes toward people with depression or schizophrenia have evolved in Germany since 1990, and whether there are different developments for both disorders.

Methods: Using data from the three decades, four wave repeated cross-sectional representative population study in the "old" (western) states in Germany with surveys in 1990 ( = 2,044), 2001 ( = 4,005), 2011 ( = 1,984), and 2020 ( = 2,449), we calculate time-trends for social distance and emotional reactions toward someone with major depression or acute schizophrenia.

Frequency and gender differences in the use of professional home care in late life. Findings from three German old-age cohorts.

Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the frequency of and the gender differences in the use of professional home care in Germany.

Methods: We used harmonized data from three large cohort studies from Germany ("Healthy Aging: Gender-specific trajectories into the latest life"; AgeDifferent.de Platform).

Changes in continuum beliefs for depression and schizophrenia in the general population 2011-2020: a widening gap.

Purpose: The public discourse about mental health and mental illness seems to have become more open over the last decade, giving rise to the hope that symptoms of mental illness have become more relatable. We examine whether continuum beliefs regarding schizophrenia and depression have increased on a population level over a period of 9 years, and whether notions of unfamiliarity and incomprehensibility have decreased.

Methods: In 2011 (n = 2455) and 2020 (n = 3042), two methodologically identical cross-sectional population surveys were conducted in Germany.

Why Was the Perception of Human Rights Respect and Care Satisfaction So High in Users of Italian Mental Health Services during the COVID-19 Pandemic?

The aim of this study was to compare users' and mental health workers' (MHW) perception of respect of human rights and job/care satisfaction in mental health services in Italy during the COVID-19 pandemic. A sample of users and MHW of Sardinia, Italy, fulfilled the "Well-Being at work and respect for human rights questionnaire" (WWRR). The study included 240 MHW and 200 users.

Development and validity of the Value-based Stigma Inventory (VASI): a value-sensitive questionnaire for the assessment of mental health stigma.

Background: It has been hypothesized that mental illness stigma differs according to what matters most to people, and that this results in value-based differences in stigma within societies. However, there is a lack of stigma measures that account for a broad range of values, including modern and liberal values.

Methods: For the development of the Value-based Stigma Inventory (VASI) a preliminary item-pool of 68 VASI-items was assembled by mental health and stigma experts.

Are informal family caregivers stigmatized differently based on their gender or employment status?: a German study on public stigma towards informal long-term caregivers of older individuals.

Background: Stigma and informal caregiving are determinants for health and wellbeing, but few studies have examined stigma towards informal caregiving. Public stigma may be expressed differently towards caregivers depending on their gender and employment status due to societal norms. Therefore, this study analyzes if there is a difference in public stigma shown by the general population toward informal caregivers of care recipients aged 65 years or older based on the observed caregiver's gender or working status.

[Psychometric Evaluation of a Long and Short German Version of the Prejudice Towards People with Mental Illness Scale (PPMI-D)].

Objective: We present a German version of the Prejudice towards People with Mental Illness Scale in long (PPMI-D) and short form (PPMI-D) and provide a psychometric evaluation in a German population sample.

Methods: After German translation (including back-translation), an online survey (N = 1004) was conducted.

Results: Item difficulty and selectivity are in the desirable medium range.

Do self-reported hearing and visual impairments predict longitudinal dementia in older adults?

Background: Sensory impairments have been associated with dementia in older adults. However, the contribution of different impairments and how they interact in the development of dementia is not clear. We examined the independent and interaction effects of hearing impairment (HI) and visual impairment (VI) on incident dementia.

Disorientation in Time and Place in Old Age: Longitudinal Evidence from Three Old Age Cohorts in Germany (AgeDifferent.de Platform).

Background: Only little evidence is available on disorientation, one of the most challenging symptoms of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of disorientation in older age in association with the level of cognitive status, personal characteristics, and life events.

Methods: Three longitudinal population-based cohort studies on cognitive health of elderly adults were harmonized (LEILA 75 + , AgeCoDe/AgeQualiDe, AgeMooDe).

The importance of familiarity with caregiving for public caregiver stigma: Evidence from a cross-sectional study in Germany.

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the association between familiarity with caregiving and public stigma towards informal caregivers of older individuals.

Material And Methods: The sample for this Online-Survey was identified using a quota-system based on German micro census data (N=1037; aged 18 years and older, living in Germany). Familiarity with caregiving was assessed by asking whether the participant has experience in or has friends or relatives with experience in informal or professional caregiving for individuals aged 65 years or older.

Evolution of public beliefs about schizophrenia and attitudes towards those afflicted in Austria over two decades.

Purpose: In the recent years, it was possible to observe two trends: First, there has been a trend to greater mental health literacy, in particular towards a biological model of schizophrenia. Secondly, an increase in public acceptance of professional help and psychiatric treatment has been observed in western countries. This indicates that the societal idea about mental illness and how it can be treated has changed.

Cultural Variations in Public Beliefs about Mental Disorders: A Comparison between Tunisia and Germany.

Background: In recent years there is a growing interest in public beliefs about mental disorders. Numerous representative population-based studies have been conducted around the globe, also in European countries bordering on the Mediterranean Sea. However, relatively little is known about public beliefs in countries in Northern Africa.

Mental health care in Italy: Basaglia's ashes in the wind of the crisis of the last decade.

Background And Aims: The purpose is to highlight the legal and ethical principles that inspired the reform of mental health care in Italy, the only country to have closed its psychiatric hospitals. The article will also try to verify some macro-indicators of the quality of care and discuss the crisis that the mental health care system in Italy is experiencing.

Methods: Narrative review.

Impact and differences of illness course perception on the desire for social distance towards people with symptoms of depression or schizophrenia in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Objectives: Public stigma against psychiatric disorders leads to delayed treatment utilization and worsens treatment outcome. This study analyses the impact of expectations regarding the course of illness and attribution as medical illness on the desire for social distance towards schizophrenia and depression in Vietnam.

Methods: In 2013, a survey (n = 771) using unlabelled vignettes either depicting a person with symptoms typical for schizophrenia or major depression was carried out in Hanoi.

ADHD, stigma and continuum beliefs: A population survey on public attitudes towards children and adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

ADHD is a mental illness of high epidemiological and clinical importance, embedded in a complex socio-cultural context. We estimated the prevalence of attitudes related to ADHD in a representative population survey in Germany (n = 1008) after presenting an unlabelled vignette of a child or an adult with ADHD. Relations of personal experience, interpersonal contact and continuum beliefs with emotions and social distance were calculated using path models.

Are older men more vulnerable to depression than women after losing their spouse? Evidence from three German old-age cohorts (AgeDifferent.de platform).

Background: Old age is accompanied by a higher risk of losing a spouse. This study aims to longitudinally investigate the effect of widowhood on depression severity with a special focus on sex differences. We examine depression before and after widowhood in men and women separately to investigate which sex is at greater risk after losing a spouse.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Children and Adults: A Population Survey on Public Beliefs.

To investigate beliefs and attitudes of the public toward attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children and adults. In a representative population survey in Germany ( = 1,008) using computer-assisted telephone interviews, we asked participants about causal beliefs, illness recognition, treatment recommendations, and beliefs about ADHD, presenting an unlabelled vignette of a child or an adult with ADHD. The most frequently endorsed causal beliefs for the depicted child with ADHD were "TV or Internet," "lack of parental affection," and "broken home.

Stigma of Mental Illness in Germans and Turkish Immigrants in Germany: The Effect of Causal Beliefs.

Stigma poses an additional burden for people suffering from mental illness, one that often impairs their social participation and can prevent them from seeking adequate help. It is therefore crucial to understand how stigma develops in order to counteract it by setting up effective evidence-based anti-stigma interventions. The present study examines the effect of causal beliefs on stigmatizing behavioral intentions, namely people's desire to distance themselves from persons with mental illness.

The relationship between causal beliefs and desire for social distance towards people with schizophrenia and depression: Results from a survey of young Ghanaian adults.

This study examines attitudes of the young Ghanaian population regarding the relationship between causal beliefs and desire for social distance from people with symptoms of schizophrenia and depression. Respondents (n = 507) were presented with depression and schizophrenia symptoms using unlabeled case vignettes. A factor analysis examined three factors for causal beliefs, and multiple linear regression analysis on the desire for social distance was conducted.