Schools-based interventions for reducing stigmatization of acquired brain injury: The role of interpersonal contact and visible impairment

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of contact versus education interventions for adolescents in reducing stigmatizing attitudes toward people with acquired brain injury (ABI), and whether visibility of ABI affects the intervention outcome. 408 students (age range = 14-17 years) from 13 schools in the Mid-West of Ireland were randomly allocated to one of the three interventions: Education only, Contact (Visible Disability), or Contact ("Invisible" Disability). Stigmatizing attitudes were measured before and after intervention. Results suggest that a Contact intervention was more effective in reducing stigmatizing attitudes in terms of social restrictiveness, benevolence, and community mental health beliefs than education alone. Visibility of ABI impacted the effectiveness of the contact intervention on Community Mental Health beliefs only. Contact with a person with ABI is thus more effective in promoting positive attitudes than ABI education alone, while the presence of visible impairment was not found to increase this intervention effect.