Levels of stigma among community mental health staff in Guangzhou, China

Our results show relatively high levels of stigma toward people with mental illness among community mental health staff in Guangzhou, China. There are slightly gender differences in discriminatory behaviours and stigma related knowledge of mental illness among community mental health staff, with female staff in general less stigmatising. Accordingly, anti-stigma programmes should be established among healthcare staff. In addition, the Chinese version of RIBS is a reliable, valid and acceptable measure which can be used to assess the willingness of participants to contact people with mental illness in future anti-stigma campaigns.