This study aimed to develop a reliable scale to measure individual attitudes toward antidepressant usage. The researcher reviewed literature identifying factors that could influence attitudes, such as stigma, labeling, knowledge, and media portrayal. A 12-item survey was created and administered online to 688 participants. Results showed those who had taken antidepressants had more positive attitudes than those who had not. The scale showed moderate reliability but could be improved by lengthening it. The study provides a first step in validly measuring this important attitude.

1. Attitudes Towards Antidepressants
Emily Borkowski
Stevenson University, Stevenson, Maryland
Attitude is defined as the learned, relatively stable tendency to respond to people, concepts, and
events in an evaluative way (Gerrig and Zimbardo, 2002). The purpose of the current research
was to devise a reliable and valid scale that would accurately identify individual’s attitudes
towards antidepressant usage. An antidepressant is a medication used to treat various mental
disorders and illness such as depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic
stress disorder, etc. These medications look to balance the neurotransmitters that affect one’s
mood and emotions. The development of this research was influenced and inspired by past
research pertaining to, specifically, negative attitudes towards antidepressants; otherwise known
as stigmas towards antidepressants. This study looked to analyze the public’s attitudes towards
antidepressants and what factors may influence this attitude. It is hypothesized that little
exposure to antidepressants will lead a more negative attitude towards antidepressants. This
study fulfills the course requirement for Dr. Metzger’s PSY 380 course– Test and
Measurements.
Background Information
Introduction
Results Discussion
Boyd, J. E., Juanamarga, J., & Hashemi, P., (2015). Stigma of taking psychiatric medications
among psychiatric outpatient veterans. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, 38(2), 132-134.
Corrigan, P., Kosyluk, K., Fokuo, J., Park, J. (2014). How does direct to consumer advertising
affect the stigma of mental illness? Community Mental Health Journal, 50(7), 792-799.
Gerrig, Richard J. & Philip G. Zimbardo (2002). Psychology And Life. Boston, Massachusetts:
Allyn and Bacon, Boston
Jacob, S. A., Hassali, M. A., & Rahman, A. F. (2015). Attitudes and beliefs of patients with chronic
depression toward antidepressants and depression. NDT Neuropsychiatric Disease and
Treatment, 1339.
Xu, Z., Müller, M., Heekeren, K., Theodoridou, A., Dvorsky, D., Metzler, S., Brabban, A.,
Corrigan, P., Walitza, S., Rössler, W., Rüsch, N. (2015). Self-labelling and stigma as predictors of
attitudes towards help-seeking among people at risk of psychosis: 1-year follow-up. Eur Arch
Psychiatry Clin Neurosci European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 266(1),
79-82.
Test Construction Process References
During the literature review process, commonly occurring themes surfaced that identified
possible variables that may influence ones attitudes towards antidepressants:
Xu et al. (2015) examined how labeling and stigmas affect attitudes towards help-seeking in
young people. They discovered that an increased perceived stigma of mental illness and the
presence of cognitive appraisal of stigma functioned as a predictor for poorer attitudes towards
help-seeking and medications.
Boyd, Juanamarga, and Hashemi (2015) found that service members and veterans underutilize
mental health services and beneficial medications, such as antidepressants. This is said to be
contributed to fear of being judged and feeling embarrassed.
Jacob, Rahman, and Hassali (2015) discovered something a little different than the mentioned
studies above. After assessing 104 patients with chronic depression, these patients had a generally
positive attitude towards antidepressants. The negative attitudes in this study are believed to be
contributed to lack of knowledge and misconceptions of antidepressants.
With all this mention of negative attitudes and stigma towards antidepressants, there must be a
cause for such a global stigma. Corrigan, Kosyluk, Fokuo, and Park (2014) conducted a study in
which the results indicated that direct-to-consumer advertising of antidepressants increases
negative attitudes and stigmas towards antidepressants and mental illness. However, in turn, it
decreases negative attitudes of those self-identified as having a mental illness.
In sum, the commonly occurring themes of judgment and labeling appear to be a recurring affair
in the literature regarding attitude of antidepressants. This is believed to be influenced by direct-
consumer advertising and coequals in society. Lack of general knowledge is also said to be a
contributing factor to negative attitudes.
The construct of this study was molded and developed based on the commonly occurring
themes mentioned above. In addition to these themes, other variables included in this scale that
are thought to possibly influence attitudes of antidepressants include patient/doctor relationship,
personal experiences, experience of friends and family, and the attitudes of those around them.
The attitudes towards antidepressants scale was developed through concept mapping. The scale
developed for this study was a 12-item survey featuring 3 demographic questions. After
completing the first draft of this scale, it was then administered to other sections of Dr.
Metzger’s 380 courses– fulfilling the pilot study requirements that are necessary to ensure the
reliability of the scale. Feedback was provided and utilized in the final draft of the scale. The
final version of this survey was uploaded and administered online through Google Forms.
After receiving approval from the Stevenson University Institutional Review Board, the 12-item survey, with 3 demographics, was then uploaded to Google
Forms and administered online via social media resources. All persons 18 years of age or older were offered the opportunity to voluntarily participate in this
research. No inducements were given for participation. Informed consent from the participants (N = 688, Male = 89, Female = 592, Did not identify = 7),
ages 18-55 (mean age = 22.60), was obtained by acknowledging that continuing to the linked survey served as verification that they have read and
understood the details provided in the consent form.
For the demographics, participants were requested to type their age and select either “male” or “female” as being their gender. For the last demographic
question, participants must select “yes” or “no.”
For the 12-item scale, questions 1-3 requested participants select one of the following: “not applicable,” “strongly disagree,” “disagree,” “agree,” or
“strongly agree.” Questions 4-12 requested that participants select one of the following: “strongly disagree,” “disagree,” “agree,” or “strongly agree.”
.
Method
I have taken
antidepressants
Item Total
Correlation
Yes Mean
(N = 245)
No Mean
(N = 417)
-
1. My experience with a family member taking
antidepressants has been positive.
2.80 2.50 -
2. My experience with a friend taking
antidepressants has been positive.
2.86 2.68 -
3. My personal experience with antidepressants has
been positive.
2.69 2.28 -
4. (RV) I believe that people can become addicted
to antidepressants.
2.41 2.17 .295
5. I have often seen the media (movies, television
shows, etc.) portray the consumption of
antidepressants as being negative.
3.12 2.91 .180
6. If I were diagnosed with depression and
prescribed antidepressants, I would trust my doctors
diagnosis.
2.98 2.86 .582
7. I would take antidepressants if they were
prescribed to me.
3.04 2.81 .609
8. (RV) I would not take antidepressants because I
do not want to be labeled.
3.37 2.23 .506
9. (RV) I believe that as a society we are too
dependent on pharmaceutical solutions.
2.30 2.10 .115
10. If I thought that I was depressed, I would look
into getting a prescription for antidepressants.
2.72 2.40 .280
11. (RV) I identify those taking antidepressants as
having a serious mental issue.
3.10 2.88 .397
12. I know people that see those taking
antidepressants as having serious mental issues.
3.10 2.96 -.048
Table 1
Mean Results and Item Total Correlation of 12-Item Scale According
to Demographic Question “I have taken antidepressants”
* Higher mean scores indicate a higher positive attitude
* Questions 1 – 3 in addition to gender, age, and “I have taken antidepressants”
were treated as demographics
Considering the vast population size (N = 688), the results of this study are
perceived as being valid and reliable. With a Cronbach’s alpha of .63, the scale
was not as reliable as anticipated. However, if the Spearman Brown Prophecy
Formula is applied,
which is a predictive formula that determines the cronbach’s alpha of a test if the
length is doubled through a split-half method, then the reliability of this study
increases to .77.
The results of the attitudes towards antidepressants scale indicate that a history of
taking antidepressants is correlated to a positive attitude towards antidepressants.
There was a significant difference in attitude between those that have taken and
those that have not taken antidepressants, t (660) = 6.98. p<.001. This result
validates the construct of attitudes towards antidepressants.
There were a few limitations present in this study. The gender ratio in this study
was drastically unbalanced. Gender may potentially have an influence on attitude
towards antidepressants and could have offered more information regarding
attitudes had it been more equally distributed. Another limitation includes the
length of the scale. Based upon the Spearman Brown Prophecy Formula it is
known that lengthening the scale would bring about more reliable results.
Future research would benefit greatly in the re-wording and lengthening of this
scale. It would also be interesting to attempt to identify potential variables that
ones attitude towards antidepressants may be correlated with, such a social
desirability responses.