The Purpose of the Final Project One of the biggest barriers to getting help for psychological distress and disorders is stigma –negative attitudes associated with mental illness. Stigma can lead to y

The Purpose of the Final Project

One of the biggest barriers to getting help for psychological distress and disorders is stigma –negative attitudes associated with mental illness. Stigma can lead to years of unnecessary suffering, of feeling different, misunderstood, and alone.

The purpose of this project is to lower the barrier of stigma by sharing accurate information about psychological disorders and effective treatments. You are learning a lot in this class! What perspectives on psychopathology could be shared with friends, family, co-workers, or the general public to help eliminate negative attitudes associated with mental illness?

To “Stamp out Stigma”, you will create an infographic using accurate information that can be shared with others. An infographic is a visual representation of information or data that gives an easy-to-understand overview of a topic.

This assignment will help you develop skills consistent with the three goals of this class:

• Support Well-being
• Communicate the difference between scientific and popular notions of psychopathology.
• Use critical thinking to appreciate the complexity of psychopathology as it applies to “real world” behavior.

Task

Stamp Out Stigma is your final project. It is your chance to use what you have learned to create something tangible – an infographic – that reduces stigma about mental illness. Pick something that you are interested in, even passionate about! 

What You Need to Do

Step 1. Review the infographics from these credible sources listed below.

https://www.nami.org/About-Mental-Illness/Mental-Health-by-the-Numbers/Infographics-Fact-Sheetshttps://adaa.org/infographicshttps://www.mhanational.org/infographic-life-anxietyhttps://www.mhanational.org/infographic-mental-health-men

Step 2. Pick a psychological disorder or related issue (suicide, a type of psychotherapy) that you would like to make an infographic about. Decide the target audience for your infographic (e.g., a particular age, gender, ethnic or racial group, immigrants from a particular region, parents, employers, hospital staff – a general audience is fine, too). 

Step 3.  Decide what the general theme of your infographic will be (e.g., How to talk to someone you think may be suicidal; Bipolar Disorder 101; Treatments for Depression; Myths about Schizophrenia) and what your take-home message(s) will be.  

 Step 4. Draft your infographic. The draft must be of a high-enough quality that your classmates can give meaningful feedback on it. The final version of the infographic should include the following:

1. A minimum of 6 different areas of coverage in support of the theme of your infographic (e.g., types of symptoms, myths, impact of disorder, surprising fact  . . ). See Final Project Resources (below) for suggestions on what to include on infographics.
2. A citation of source(s) used for each of the 6 areas of coverage. The citations can be from scholarly research (e.g., articles) and credible sources (e.g., National Institute of Mental Health, American Psychological Association website). The citations should be listed at the bottom of the infographic using small font so as not to distract the viewer.
3. Include real phone numbers or websites for additional resources. If you are unaware of real resources to include, you may make them up (e.g., www.exampleresourcesforstigmareduction.com ; 1-800-123-4567). The inclusion of contact information is designed to give the infographic viewer an easy next step to receive more information, follow up with services, etc.

Step 5. Turn in the final project.

Directions:

• Submit a Word document (e.g., .doc, .docx) to iCollege by 11:59pm on the date assigned.
• The Word document should include 1) your answers to the questions below and 2) the infographic. If you are unable to copy and paste your infographic to Word, you may submit the infographic as a separate .pdf or .jpeg attachment.
• Begin with the title of the project, your name, and the date.
• List each question number/letter, question, and your answer. Single-spaced is fine, with an additional space between each question.
• Your answers should be in full sentences and be free from grammar/spelling errors.

Questions to answer:

1. Explain how your infographic can “Stamp out Stigma” and why it is important to you.
2. What did you learn about yourself while working on this project?
3. In your own words, explain the research (or describe the source(s) – whichever is appropriate) you cited for each of the 6 areas you covered in the infographic. Label each area 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d, 3e, 3f and include the full citation at the end of your explanation for each area.
4. What is something that a person (or a community, an organization, or a group) could do to increase resilience in order to prevent, treat, or improve the topic you chose for your infographic?
5. Who might you show your infographic to and why?
6. What is your ‘next step’ for stamping out stigma?

Final Project ResourcesWhat to include on infographics

What is an Infographic? Examples, Templates & Design Tips

https://neilpatel.com/blog/12-infographic-tips/ 

How to Write Infographics: Your Complete Guide to Stellar Copy

Sample infographics

https://www.nami.org/About-Mental-Illness/Mental-Health-by-the-Numbers/Infographics-Fact-Sheets 

https://adaa.org/infographics 

https://www.mhanational.org/infographic-life-anxiety 

https://www.mhanational.org/infographic-mental-health-men

Infographics Website

Canvahttps://www.canva.com/create/infographics/https://www.canva.com/pricing/

Easel.lyhttps://www.easel.ly/

Piktocharthttps://piktochart.com/https://piktochart.com/pricing/piktochart-packages/Venngagehttps://venngage.com/https://venngage.com/pricing/

12 Ted Talks About Mental Health

https://www.ted.com/playlists/175/the_struggle_of_mental_health

Statistics and Data Research Guide from GSU Library

http://research.library.gsu.edu/statsdata

APA Style

APA Website: https://apastyle.apa.org/PORT: http://research.library.gsu.edu/port

Criteria for Success

Not Present

Below Expectations

Meets Expectations

Exceeds Expectations

Quality of Purpose. (questions 1 and 2)

Explains how infographic can “Stamp out Stigma”, why it is important to the student, and what they learned about themselves.

10%

Not present

Does not answer each question.

Answer is superficial

Answers each question

Answer is thoughtful

‘Meets Expectations’ and

Is highly compelling or shows exceptional self-awareness

Quality of Evidence. (questions 3a-3f)

Explain the research (or describe the source(s) for each of the 6 areas you covered in the infographic

30%

Not present

Explains research/ describes sources for < 6 areas.

Superficial explanation/ description

Not in student’s own words.

Explains research/ describes sources for 6 areas.

Thoughtful explanation/ description

Described in the student’s own words.

‘Meets Expectations’ and

Displays high level critical thinking/application to topic.

Next Steps. (questions 4-6)

Explains how to increase resilience, who infographic may be shared with, and next steps for stamping out stigma

10%

Not present

Does not answer each question.

Answer is superficial

Answers each question

Answer is thoughtful

‘Meets Expectations’ and

Is highly compelling or shows exceptional self-awareness

Infographic

Quality

20%

Not present

Infographic does not appear to be designed with a topic/theme/ target audience in mind.

No take-home message

Infographic is clearly designed with a topic/ theme/target audience in mind.

Take-home message is clear

‘Meets Expectations’ and

Infographic is exceptionally well designed, high level of coherence, highly compelling, or memorable

Visual Appealing/Engaging

10%

Not present

Not visually appealing/engaging;

Formatting/grammar/spelling errors that are distracting

Visually appealing/engaging

Minimal formatting/spelling errors

“Meets Expectations” and

Grabs the viewers’ attention

Infographic contains 6 or more areas of coverage.

10%

Not present

< 6 areas of coverage.

6 areas of coverage.

 6 areas of thorough and thoughtful coverage

Citations

5%

Not present

 <6 citations

6 citations

Citations are visually distracting  

 6 citations

Citations are not visually distracting

Infographic gives resources for more information.

5%

Not present

1 resource

2 resources

>2 resources