Objective: To gain a better understanding of student pharmacists' stigma toward mental health and psychotropic medications.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted via paper and online surveys amongst all student pharmacists enrolled in a Doctor of Pharmacy program in the Southeastern United States (n = 501). The Perceived Devaluation and Discrimination (PDD) Scale was used to measure mental health stigma. The Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire (BMQ) was modified to measure psychotropic stigma. MANOVAs were conducted to investigate relationships between student pharmacists' characteristics with mental health and psychotropic stigma. A paired t-test was used to determine if there was a difference between degree of mental health stigma and psychotropic stigma.Results: A total of 390 participants completed the survey (65%). The sample was mostly female (67%), white (79%), and non-Hispanic (96%). Ages were predominantly within the 19–24-year range (80%), and the majority of respondents reported previous interactions with patients who have mental health conditions (55%) or patients on psychotropic medications (65%). Student personal preferences for mental health treatment were primarily psychologic (42%) or both psychologic and psychotropic (40%). Degree of psychotropic stigma was significantly greater than that of mental health stigma. A statistically significant association was found between student personal preference for treatment and the psychotropic stigma. No difference was found in degree of either type of stigma across cohorts.Conclusions: Student pharmacists demonstrated both mental health and psychotropic stigmas. Future research should be performed to determine what effects these stigmas have on care of patients with mental health conditions.

Stimulant misuse is a rising concern in the United States. The purpose of this study was to better understand the U.S. general public's knowledge, perceptions, and intentions regarding stimulant misuse, and to assess sociodemographic differences. Americans age ≥ 18 were recruited for a cross-sectional, anonymous online survey using Amazon Mechanical Turk. Outcomes, guided by the Health Belief Model, included: knowledge; perceived susceptibility, severity, and benefits surrounding prescription and non-prescription stimulant use/misuse; perceived barriers to medical stimulant use and seeking help for stimulant misuse; and non-medical stimulant use intentions. Mann-Whitney U tests assessed differences across age (young adults/adults [≤44] versus middle-aged/older adults [>44]), sex, race, and urbanicity. Linear regression assessed predictors of intentions. Respondents (N = 303) were 48.2 % female, 80.2 % White, mean 43.65 years, and 84.2 % urban-residing. Stimulant knowledge was higher among females (p = 0.017) and White individuals (p = 0.043). Perceived severity of stimulant misuse was higher among >44-year-olds (p = 0.006), females (p = 0.007), and rural residents (p = 0.009), with rural residents perceiving greater susceptibility overall (p = 0.022). Barriers to seeking help for stimulant misuse were higher among ≤44-year-olds (p = 0.025), while non-medical stimulant use intentions were higher among >44-year-olds (p = 0.002), males (p < 0.001), and urban residents (p = 0.031). Perceived severity of prescription (β = −0.268; p < 0.001) and non-prescription misuse (β = −0.191; p = 0.001), non-prescription stimulant benefits (β = 0.239; p < 0.001), barriers to seeking help (β = 0.078; p = 0.026), and age (β = −0.006; p = 0.028) predicted non-medical stimulant use intentions. Knowledge, perceptions, and non-medical stimulant use intentions differed across age, sex, race, and urbanicity. Future studies should explore strategies to overcome these disparities.