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6-week placement and some change in students’ beliefs and attitudes mostly, though not exclusively, in a positive direction. However, changes were conservative and more comprehensive research including qualitative examination of students’ experiences and responses to mental health placement is warranted. Limitations When considering the findings of this study, it must be acknowledged that the sample size was small which inevitably limits the ability to generalise results more broadly within the speech-language pathology discipline, to other disciplines within allied health or to other mental health settings. That said, the students who participated in the study were representative of disciplines known to be engaged in the mental health fields, and the findings can therefore provide a starting point for further research within allied health broadly and speech-language pathology specifically. Within this study, there were differences in the case load accessed by each discipline (e.g., acute vs. rehabilitation), the style and amount of supervision received, and the baseline level of theoretical knowledge prior to commencing placement. These factors likely influenced the trends seen within each discipline, and therefore the cohort level findings. As this was a preliminary study with a small sample size and resource constraints, it was not possible to analyse the interrelationship between changes in familiarity, attitudes and beliefs. Future research may be enhanced by looking at correlations across these three areas. Conclusion In this study, beliefs and attitudes towards the area of mental health and people with mental illness changed positively in a sample of allied health students. On commencing clinical placement in a mental health setting, students from exercise physiology, speech-language pathology and dietetics demonstrated dominant attitudes towards people with mental illness consistent with a desire to assist and support. This is a positive finding. However, stigmatising beliefs and attitudes around avoidance, anger, segregation and coercion were also noted along with the potential for these attitudes to lead to discriminatory actions or behaviours within personal and professional contexts. Post-placement, there was a tentative trend across disciplines towards greater familiarity with mental illness and improvement of stigmatising beliefs and attitudes. These findings suggest that there is some potential for clinical placements in mental health settings to assist with improving negative attitudes, prejudices and discrimination towards people with mental illness amongst allied health students. Further robust research utilising larger sample sizes and mixed methodologies is required in this area. References AIHW. (2014). Australia’s health 2014. Australia’s Health Series no. 14. Cat. no. AUS 178. Canberra: Author. Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2009). National survey of mental health and wellbeing: summary of results . Cat. no. 4326.0. Canberra: Author. Brenner, A (2014). Stigma about mental illness steers medical students away from psychiatry. The Conversation , 15 November. https://theconversation.com/au/topics/ psychiatry Callaghan, P., Cooper, L., & Gray, R. (2007). Rethinking clinical placements for mental health nursing students. Mental Health Practice , 10 (5), 18–20.

Questionnaire (AQ-27) for the domains of Help and Pity, suggested by Corrigan et al. (2003) to correlate with attitudes and behaviours consistent with assistance and closeness. However, stigmatising beliefs and attitudes pertaining to Avoidance, Segregation, Dangerousness and Coercion were also prevalent pre-placement, suggesting that while allied health students appear to have a desire to help and support individuals with a mental illness, they also possess a degree of reticence and caution. By post-placement, students across the three disciplines had demonstrated a positive shift in many of their attitudes and beliefs about mental illness and mental health when analysed at the multidisciplinary level. In particular, improvements in the domains of Anger, Avoidance and Coercion were noted across the three disciplines, indicating perhaps that with greater familiarity and exposure to patients with mental illness can come greater understanding and positive attribution. This is consistent with the suggestions of Feeney et al. (2013), who noted changes in knowledge and skills following clinical placement in a mental health setting, and Markstrom et al. (2009), who observed changes in attitudes. For some domains though, such as Blame and Segregation scores on the Attribution Questionnaire did increase in one or more of the disciplines, reflecting greater negative attribution. Thus, it seems possible that experience of mental illness can initially challenge students’ perceptions and lead to reconsideration of previously held beliefs. Six weeks is only a relatively short time to experience placement and it is possible that the measures selected did not capture all the qualitative changes that may have occurred in the students as a result of their experience. It is important to note when interpreting these results that no changes in attitudes or beliefs on the Error Choice Test reached statistical significance and the scores on the Attribution Questionnaire were subjected to descriptive analysis only. These findings should therefore be interpreted cautiously. Experiential learning is considered to be an effective method for influencing attitudes and increasing knowledge across a range of areas within and allied with health care. Providing opportunities to formalise mental health placements within tertiary curricula may assist with addressing this early on. The results obtained through this study could form a starting point for the speech pathology profession to review the involvement of clinicians in this clinical area more holistically, and prepare students at the undergraduate and postgraduate stages to ensure that they are equipped with the knowledge and understanding required to work with people with mental health conditions in the future. Given ongoing increases in government funding to mental health services, clinicians will be encountering this clinical population in all areas of practice. The refinement of clinical guidelines and position papers within the profession has assisted speech-language pathologists to understand and explore their potential role in mental health contexts. Concurrently, recognition of the contribution of speech-language pathology in the area of mental health has burgeoned. Speech-language pathology students therefore need to be sufficiently prepared prior to graduation to work with this group of individuals, and a direct way to address the current gap in knowledge and experience is for education providers to address and incorporate teaching and clinical experience in mental health into undergraduate and graduate entry programs. In summary, the findings of this study indicate an increase in familiarity with mental illness following a

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JCPSLP Volume 19, Number 3 2017

www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au