LEARNING FROM LIVED EXPERIENCE:

Susan Burwash, PhD, OTR/L
Assistant Professor

Diane Norell, MSW, BSOT, OTR/L
Senior Lecturer

Eastern
Washington
University
Spokane, WA, USA

STUDENTS:

• "Don't judge a book by its cover"
• "Allowed me to gain a new sense of empathy ... to understand the complexity & hardships of their personal stories"

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• "They are not all that different from any of us: they struggle with issues and need support & encouragement. I saw how immensely hard each of the clients tried ... Dedicated to their recovery & determined to work for it"

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• "Being able to form relationships with people with MI definitely formed my perceptions"
• "Just being able to spend time with people outside of treatment helped reduce the stigma I had"
• "It made me feel like an advocate"

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• "Life changing experiences"
• "I feel less often making judgements of a person and instead feel the need to gain an understanding of each person's story"

CONSUMER--EDUCATORS:

• "Having students interact with persons with lived experience is about as perfect as it gets"
• "Hearing the story, then telling the story, both are important"

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• "Credibility is re-gained if one's story is listened to and given credibility and that happened in this class"

WHY TACKLE STIGMA IN OT EDUCATION ?

KRUPA (2008)

HENDERSON ET A. (2014)

CONTACT-BASED STIGMA REDUCTION

• Inspired by "Learning from Experience" - Tew, Gell & Foster (2004)
• MHCC Opening Minds initiative: HCP and youth
• Opening Minds Scale - HC
• RFI in 2009

CANADIAN EXPERIENCE

• 1st year OT Mental Health course
• Small groups
• Client-educators as Teaching Assistants
• OPHI-II and other information over 2-3 meetings
• Presented narrative to class (with or without C-E present)
• OMS-HC completed pre/post/3 month follow-up using OPS - HC and WTCTM, other questions about experience

AMERICAN EXPERIENCE

OUTCOMES FROM CANADA

• Decrease in stigmatizing attitudes
• Helping most affected
• Treatment attitudes and social distance decreased but not a statistically significant change
• More positive attitudes maintained at 3 months, continued to improve

OUTCOMES FROM US

DISCUSSION

FUTURE PLANS