People with mental illness often face different types of mental illness stigma that may affect their lives, including perceived stigma, self-stigma, harmful coping strategies and poor quality of life. Although anti-stigma interventions for people with mental illness from Western countries have been identified by recent systematic reviews, their efficacy in China is unknown. This review evaluates the efficacy of anti-stigma interventions among people with mental illness in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau. A systematic search of 8 electronic databases in English and Chinese yielded 17 randomized and non-randomized controlled trials. Standardized mean differences (SMDs) were calculated wherever possible. Psychoeducation was the most commonly used intervention. SMDs were large and significant for perceived/experienced/anticipated stigma, self-prejudice and coping with stigma, as well as for depression and anxiety symptoms and quality of life. Both Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and psychoeducation had positive effects on perceived/experienced/anticipated stigma. The quality of studies was modest and heterogeneity across studies was high. Anti-stigma interventions demonstrated promise to reduce stigma's negative impact on people with mental illness in China, but more high-quality intervention research is needed.
Keywords: Chinese people; Interventions; Perceived stigma; Self-stigma; Systematic review.
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