New survey explores stigma amongst Scotland’s mental health nursing workforce

Posted by See Me, 3 December 2024

A new survey seeks to find out more about mental health nurses’ experiences of stigma.

NHS Scotland and See Me are working together on a new piece of research, which will help make improvements for the country’s mental health nurses.

Scotland is facing a critical shortage of mental health nurses. The past decade has brought a sharp UK-wide fall in the number of mental health nurses and for the past two years, Scottish universities have been unable to fill places on mental health nursing courses.

Dr Patty Lozano-Casal, programme manager at See Me, said: “International studies have shown that the mental health nursing workforce often faces stigma as a result of their role, and we are keen to find out if this is true from a Scottish perspective – and what we can do to overcome it.

“Mental health nursing is a hugely valuable profession, but current challenges around recruitment and retention mean that it will become more challenging for those who struggle with their mental health to get access to the support that is so important.

“I would encourage anyone working within the sector, no matter how long they’ve been a part, to share their views and help us understand what needs to change.”

Mental health nurses can experience the unfair impact of stigma, just because of the role they chose, and the people they help.

The new research seeks to explore the barriers that mental health nurses face, including the idea of ‘stigma by association’, a term which describes the stigma experienced by mental health nurses due to their association with people experiencing mental illness.

The survey, which is open to current and former mental health nurses as well as mental health nursing students across Scotland, is now open to responses – find out more about taking part.