Negative attitudes towards addiction among mental health students in Israel

Background: Individuals with addiction are shown to suffer from stigmatization by health professionals. While medical students in general have been shown to express negative attitudes towards individuals with addiction, little is known about mental health students’ attitudes towards this population. Method: Undergraduate and graduate students (N=265), currently studying mental health professions (psychology, social work, criminology) or non-mental health professions, filled out questionnaires assessing their levels of negative implicit attitudes towards individuals with addiction, social rejection and addiction-specific stereotypes. Results: Mental health students expressed less negative attitudes towards individuals with addiction compared to non-mental health students. Undergraduate psychology students expressed more negative attitudes compared to graduate psychology students and graduate criminology students expressed more social rejection compared to undergraduate criminology students. Conclusions: Social contact focused interventions, targeting addiction-related social rejection, should be integrated into mental health academic programs.