Cross-sectional and prospective correlates of associative stigma among mental health service providers

Objective: Preliminary research has suggested that mental health clinicians who work with people with severe mental illness may experience associative stigma, and the Clinician Associative Stigma Scale (CASS; Yanos, Vayshenker, DeLuca, & O'Connor, 2017) was recently developed and tested in a cross-sectional, online sample to examine this construct. The purpose of the present study was to further investigate the CASS's psychometric properties, examining associations with measures of burnout, job satisfaction, and "turnover intention" with service providers in a setting directly working with people with severe mental illness (i.e., a community mental health center). Furthermore, we examined these associations over a 6-month period to assess predictive validity of the measure. Method: Participants were 68 providers working in a large community mental health center in a midwestern city. Participants completed the CASS as well as measures of burnout, job satisfaction, and turnover intention at 2 points in time (baseline and 6 months later). Results: The CASS significantly predicted burnout (emotional exhaustion and personal accomplishment) and job satisfaction when examined cross-sectionally, even after controlling for demographic characteristics. Longitudinal analyses showed that increased associative stigma was associated with increased burnout and lower job satisfaction over time. Conclusions and Implications for Practice: Associative stigma may have negative consequences for mental health service providers, as well as the consumers they serve, and the CASS appears to be a useful tool to study this phenomenon. Associative stigma may be an appropriate target for interventions designed to reduce burnout among mental health providers.