Changing Public Attitudes About the Mentally Ill in the Community

The public's often negative response to two decades of deinstitutionalization policies remains a substantial barrier to the integration of the mentally ill into the community. Both mental health policymakers and public education specialists must support new programs to promote public acceptance. To do this, new research on the linkages between public attitudes and public behaviors is needed. Two research agendas should be established. First, there must be more specific research on how public attitudes about the mentally ill translate into community receptivity. Second, research must determine whether collaborative approaches to attitude-behavior change—involving communities in the process of changing themselves—or structural approaches—utilizing legal and social pressures—are more effective in promoting community integration.