Mental healthcare stigma and utilization among medical and physician assistant students

Objectives: To identify patterns in psychological distress, mental healthcare stigma, and mental healthcare utilization between medical learners across gender and sexual orientation. Participants: 1,588 students (975 allopathic, 448 osteopathic, and 165 physician assistant students) from all ten Florida medical schools. Methods: Respondents completed an anonymous online survey. Results: Cisgender female and LGBQ+ medical learners reported higher levels of psychological distress, higher mental healthcare utilization, and greater expected benefits of mental healthcare compared to their cisgender male and heterosexual peers. Men reported significantly greater mental healthcare stigma, and LGBQ+ students reported stronger beliefs that seeking treatment could harm future licensing/career opportunities. The indirect pathway by which stigma was associated with utilization of counseling and psychiatric medication via expected benefits of mental healthcare was moderated by gender. Conclusions: Tailoring medical school-based wellness programs to specifically address mental healthcare stigma, encourage help-seeking, and facilitate access to care may improve outcomes for medical learners.