“It Is OK Not to Be OK”: Nursing Students’ Backgrounds and Perceptions of Mental Health Stigma and Implications for Mental Health Nursing Education

There has been a notable increase in reported mental illnesses in recent years. Although mental illness is being discussed more openly, stigma toward mental illness still exists. Stigma can result in inadequate care for people with mental illnesses. Students come into nursing from a variety of backgrounds and these backgrounds influence their nursing clinical judgments, especially related to caring for people with mental illnesses. A qualitative descriptive analysis was conducted using 60 undergraduate nursing student reflections on their backgrounds and perceptions of mental health stigma. Students wrote about their Previously Held Beliefs and the Influence of Culture, Overcoming Stigma through their Experiences with Friends and Family, Influence of Popular Culture, and Personal Experiences, and their New Understanding of mental illness and what that means for their future nursing practice. These findings have important implications for nursing education including providing more opportunities for nursing students to care for people with mental illnesses, reframing how mental health content is delivered in undergraduate nursing programs, and providing additional support for students with personal mental illnesses.