Reducing anorexia nervosa stigma: an exploration of a social consensus intervention and the moderating effect of blameworthy attributions

Abstract

Background:Research suggests that blameworthy attributions towards individuals with anorexia nerv-osa are common, which in turn elicit more stigmatising attitudes towards those with the disorder. Thesocial consensus approach has been found to reduce stigmatising attitudes in various domains and, assuch, is a promising avenue to pursue for ameliorating stigma in anorexia nervosa.Aims:The present study primarily sought to investigate the effectiveness of a social consensusapproach in reducing stigma towards individuals with anorexia nervosa. The study also examined ifblameworthy attributions were associated with change in stigma.Method:An experimental design was employed, where female undergraduate students (N¼126) com-pleted self-report measures that assessed anorexia nervosa stigma at baseline (Time 1) and 6–10daysafter allocation to one of two conditions: social consensus and control (Time 2).Results:The social consensus intervention was more effective than the control condition in reducingstigmatising attitudes on measures assessing affective reactions (p¼0.025) and characteristics attrib-uted to a target with anorexia nervosa (p<0.001). Level of blame-based attributions did not moderatechange in stigma.Conclusions:Results suggest that a social consensus intervention is promising irrespective of theendorsement of blameworthy attributions Show more