İletişim fakültesi öğrencilerinin ruhsal hastalıklara sahip bireylere yapılan stigma konusundaki düşünce ve önerilerinin belirlenmesi

Objectives: This study is carried out with students who study at the communication faculty of a private university in Turkey. The study aims to determine the opinions of the students about stigmas towards individuals with mental illnesses and to learn the views and suggestions for preventing this stigmatization. Methods: This research was a qualitative study conducted with 12 students in the communication faculty of a foundation university in Istanbul, Turkey in the 2016–2017 academic year who agreed to participate in the study. Data were collected by the face-to-face interview method. Results: In individual in-depth interviews, 83.3% of the students expressed that doctors should conduct health programs in order to prevent stigmatization of mental illnesses. In addition, 75% responded that society should be educated appropriately and 50% of the students stated that adding courses in the university curriculum would play a major role in preventing this stigmatism. Conclusion: The study concluded that communication faculty students found stigmatizing behavior towards mental illness inappropriate. The participants further responded that as employees of the newly emerging media sector they will approach psychiatric patients with more devotion, empathy, tolerance and respect when reporting in the media. The participants in this research will play an important role in the future of media, therefore this research is significant. Keywords: Communication students; mental illness; stigmatization.