Project Proposal: Mental Health Stigma and Gender Differences

This project proposal, submitted by a student, delves into the critical issue of mental health stigma, examining how gender differences influence the perceptions and attitudes of healthcare professionals. The introduction highlights the societal stigmatization associated with mental health disorders, with gender identified as a key determinant. The proposal aims to bridge the gap in existing literature by analyzing the attitudes of care providers and identifying the factors contributing to stigmatization within mental healthcare settings. The research objectives include identifying social factors that lead to stigmatized approaches and exploring the role of gender disparity. The methodology involves qualitative and quantitative data collection through semi-structured interviews with experienced healthcare employees. This approach seeks to understand their experiences and attitudes toward mental health, providing valuable insights into the emotional and perceptual aspects of the issue. The proposal outlines the research questions, literature review, and methodology to address the complexities of mental health stigma.

Running head: PROJECT PROPOSAL
PROJECT PROPOSAL
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1PROJECT PROPOSAL
Introduction:
Mental health disorder is largely associated with societal stigmatisation (Mental
Health Foundation 2016). Since, time immemorial various determinants have been
recognised to prevail in society in association with mental health disorder with gender being a
predominant factor. This paper aims at developing a clear understanding about gender as a
contributing that lead to the development of a stigmatised approach towards mental health.
Background:
Mental health in itself is an extremely sensitive subject and most of the relevant
literature deals with the perception of mental health in terms of general public view, however
recent trends have identified the existence of determinants that affect the outlook and
perspective of the care-providers catering to the mental health of the people. This paper tries
to identify the related determinants with special emphasis on stigmatisation pertaining to
gender differences.
Rationale:
The attitude of care-providers of mental health are stigmatised on the basis of many
social factors. Due to the lack of any appropriate literature present in context of role of
professional attitude of the care givers while dispensing mental health service, the research
aims to bridge the gap with valuable contribution to the database.
Research Aim:
The aim of the research was to identify the factors that largely contribute to
stigmatisation in mental health care settings. The research also aims to identify the extent to
which gender plays a role in posing a hindrance to mental health care in a social setting.

2PROJECT PROPOSAL
Research Objective:
The objective of the research was to identify the major contributors of the social
factors that has led to the development of a stigmatised approach towards the service delivery
prevalent in mental health-care setting. The objective also included identifying the prevalent
literature gap in terms of the role of gender disparity.
Research Question:
How does care-providers perception of stigma and attitudes compare to the gender
differences within mental health?
Literature Review:
Mental health has been perceived in a stigmatising way on contrasting it with the
perception about physical health (Al-Nagga 2013). Studies reveal that often patients do not
feel safe while disclosing their problems pertaining to mental health because of the fear of
being socially judged (Knaak et al. 2017). Mental health is often not considered as a disorder
due to the absence of external symptoms as is evident in physical disorders as per societal
perspectives (WHO 2018).
Methodology:
The methodology that would be adopted in order to proceed with the research plan
would include the collection of a set of primary data involving both qualitative and
quantitative analysis. The qualitative analysis would include participants to answer open-
ended semi-structured interviews that would help in analysing their experiences and attitude
towards mental health. The qualitative analysis was chosen as it would provide an insight to
the emotional and the perception towards mental health operating in the mind-set of the
healthcare employees. The inclusion criteria for the semi-structured interview would require
trained healthcare employees with a minimum 1 year work experience in mental health and

3PROJECT PROPOSAL
with effective communication ability in English. The collected data would then be analysed
qualitatively to derive significant findings.

4PROJECT PROPOSAL
References:
Al-Naggar, R. (2013). Attitudes towards Persons with Mental Illness among University
Students. ASEAN Journal of Psychiatry, 14(1), 1-10
Knaak, S., Mantler, E. and Szeto, A., 2017. Mental illness-related stigma in healthcare:
Barriers to access and care and evidence-based solutions. Healthcare Management Forum.
30(2).pp. 111—116.
Mental Health Foundation. (2016). New survey highlights mental health gender differences.
[online] Available at: https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/blog/adult-psychiatric-morbidity-
survey-highlights-mental-health-gender-differences [Accessed 8 Jul. 2018].
WHO. (2018). Gender and women's mental health. [online] Available at:
http://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/genderwomen/en/ [Accessed 8 Jul. 2018].