Stigma and Health, Vol 11(2), May 2026, 209-215; doi:10.1037/sah0000529
Mental health stigma leads to social ostracism, prejudice, and discrimination. However, the experience is not limited to individuals with serious mental illness (SMI) but also affects providers who care for them and has recently been termed associative stigma (AS). Earlier studies on AS did not differentiate between stigma in work settings (i.e., among work colleagues) or nonwork settings (i.e., among nonwork acquaintances), obscuring potentially important differences. This study sought to survey AS using the Clinician Associative Stigma Scale (CASS) as experienced in both work and nonwork settings. Respondents were 62 mental health clinicians who completed the expanded version of the structured 19-item CASS in a large urban community mental health center. Results show adequate internal consistency (Cronbach’s α) of each of four AS subscales and AS total scores with significantly lower levels of AS from coworkers as compared to non-coworker acquaintances (p r = .382). Comparison with an undifferentiated national sample surveyed by Yanos et al. (2017) showed our results to be statistically significant lower on most measures. Although AS is present within work settings, it is lower than in nonwork settings. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved)