Do school based depression screening programs produce stigma

Background: School-based depression screening programs have been advocated as a way to overcome barriers to identification and treatment. Critics have charged that these programs may wrongly medicalize teen distress. Methods: An online experiment compared social distance and other stigma-related outcomes for vignettes describing: (a) a teen in whose initial screen was negative (despite experiencing distress); (b) a teen whose initial screen was positive, but at second stage was determined not to have depressive disorder; and(c) a teen whose initial screen was positive, and at second stage was determine to have depressive disorder. Results: Social distance did not differ for the three groups. However, the groups with screen positive with depression was judged more severe, and were more likely to be judged to need mental health treatment, suggesting Ss were able to discriminate between this group and the other two. Ratings indicated the screen negative teen was significantly less likely than either of the screen positive groups to see negative consequences of disclosure. Discussion: To the extent findings can be applied to the controversy over depression screening in schools, findings provide a mixed picture. No evidence was found that Ss believed either group who screened positive was likely to be ostracized, but Ss did believe that either of the screen positive groups (with or without subsequent depression diagnosis) were more likely to suffer some loss of positive regard of others if their problems were disclosed.