{"id":87306,"date":"2025-06-18T14:59:26","date_gmt":"2025-06-18T18:59:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\/?post_type=resource&#038;p=87306"},"modified":"2026-05-28T08:44:31","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T12:44:31","slug":"structural-stigma-in-mental-health-care-scale","status":"publish","type":"resource","link":"https:\/\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\/resource\/structural-stigma-in-mental-health-care-scale\/","title":{"rendered":"Structural Stigma in Mental Health Care Scale"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <strong>Structural Stigma in Mental Health Care Scale <\/strong>(SSMHCS)<sup>1 <\/sup>was developed as part of a <a href=\"https:\/\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\/structural-stigma\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">larger project<\/a>, the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC), initiated in 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This scale was designed to provide a cultural barometer of stigma experienced by individuals with a mental health and\/or substance use (MHSU) concern or illness receiving care in a <strong>MHSU service setting<\/strong>. It is a 20-item scale with two factors: an eight-item person\u2011centred care factor and a 12-item coercive care factor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The SSMHCS was designed to capture mental health care-related stigma experiences specifically from the perspective of service users. Scale development and testing followed best practice guidelines, including participation of people with lived and living experience of mental health and substance use disorders and family members (PWLLE) in the development process. More information about the development and testing of the SSMHCS will be publicly available soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Reference: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">1. Stuart, H., Knaak, S. Structural Stigma in Mental Health Care Scale (SSMHCS). Mental Health Commission of Canada (2025).<a href=\"https:\/\/journals.plos.org\/mentalhealth\/article?id=10.1371\/journal.pmen.0000493\">https:\/\/journals.plos.org\/mentalhealth\/article?id=10.1371\/journal.pmen.0000493<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Structural Stigma in Mental Health Care Scale (SSMHCS)1 was developed as part of a larger project, the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC), initiated in 2019. This scale was designed to provide a cultural barometer of stigma experienced by individuals with a mental health and\/or substance use (MHSU) concern or illness receiving care in&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":87307,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[809],"tags":[],"program":[],"program-area":[261],"audience":[],"covid-hub-category":[],"health-canada":[835,834,838],"class_list":["post-87306","resource","type-resource","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-professional-resources","program-area-structural-stigma","health-canada-frontline","health-canada-professionals","health-canada-stigma"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.3 (Yoast SEO v28.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Structural Stigma in Mental Health Care Scale - Mental Health Commission of Canada<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Structural Stigma in Mental Health Care Scale (SSMHCS)1 was developed as part of a larger project, the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC),\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\/resource\/structural-stigma-in-mental-health-care-scale\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Structural Stigma in Mental Health Care Scale\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Structural Stigma in Mental Health Care Scale (SSMHCS)1 was developed as part of a larger project, the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC),\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\/resource\/structural-stigma-in-mental-health-care-scale\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mental Health Commission of Canada\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/mental-health-commission-of-canada\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-28T12:44:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/commissionsantementale.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/SSMHCS-Featured.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1230\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\\\/resource\\\/structural-stigma-in-mental-health-care-scale\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\\\/resource\\\/structural-stigma-in-mental-health-care-scale\\\/\",\"name\":\"Structural Stigma in Mental Health Care Scale - Mental Health Commission of Canada\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\\\/resource\\\/structural-stigma-in-mental-health-care-scale\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\\\/resource\\\/structural-stigma-in-mental-health-care-scale\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/SSMHCS-Featured.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-18T18:59:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-28T12:44:31+00:00\",\"description\":\"The Structural Stigma in Mental Health Care Scale (SSMHCS)1 was developed as part of a larger project, the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC),\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\\\/resource\\\/structural-stigma-in-mental-health-care-scale\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\\\/resource\\\/structural-stigma-in-mental-health-care-scale\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\\\/resource\\\/structural-stigma-in-mental-health-care-scale\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/SSMHCS-Featured.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/SSMHCS-Featured.png\",\"width\":1230,\"height\":960,\"caption\":\"A doctor and patient smile at the camera\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\\\/resource\\\/structural-stigma-in-mental-health-care-scale\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Resources\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\\\/resource\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Structural Stigma in Mental Health Care Scale\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\\\/\",\"name\":\"Mental Health Commission of Canada\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Mental Health Commission of Canada\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/12\\\/mental-health-commission-canada-logo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/12\\\/mental-health-commission-canada-logo.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1080,\"caption\":\"Mental Health Commission of Canada\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/company\\\/mental-health-commission-of-canada\\\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Structural Stigma in Mental Health Care Scale - Mental Health Commission of Canada","description":"The Structural Stigma in Mental Health Care Scale (SSMHCS)1 was developed as part of a larger project, the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC),","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\/resource\/structural-stigma-in-mental-health-care-scale\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Structural Stigma in Mental Health Care Scale","og_description":"The Structural Stigma in Mental Health Care Scale (SSMHCS)1 was developed as part of a larger project, the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC),","og_url":"https:\/\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\/resource\/structural-stigma-in-mental-health-care-scale\/","og_site_name":"Mental Health Commission of Canada","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/mental-health-commission-of-canada\/","article_modified_time":"2026-05-28T12:44:31+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1230,"height":960,"url":"https:\/\/commissionsantementale.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/SSMHCS-Featured.png","type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\/resource\/structural-stigma-in-mental-health-care-scale\/","url":"https:\/\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\/resource\/structural-stigma-in-mental-health-care-scale\/","name":"Structural Stigma in Mental Health Care Scale - Mental Health Commission of Canada","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\/resource\/structural-stigma-in-mental-health-care-scale\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\/resource\/structural-stigma-in-mental-health-care-scale\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/SSMHCS-Featured.png","datePublished":"2025-06-18T18:59:26+00:00","dateModified":"2026-05-28T12:44:31+00:00","description":"The Structural Stigma in Mental Health Care Scale (SSMHCS)1 was developed as part of a larger project, the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC),","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\/resource\/structural-stigma-in-mental-health-care-scale\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\/resource\/structural-stigma-in-mental-health-care-scale\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\/resource\/structural-stigma-in-mental-health-care-scale\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/SSMHCS-Featured.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/SSMHCS-Featured.png","width":1230,"height":960,"caption":"A doctor and patient smile at the camera"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\/resource\/structural-stigma-in-mental-health-care-scale\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Resources","item":"https:\/\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\/resource\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Structural Stigma in Mental Health Care Scale"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\/#website","url":"https:\/\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\/","name":"Mental Health Commission of Canada","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\/#organization","name":"Mental Health Commission of Canada","url":"https:\/\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/mental-health-commission-canada-logo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/mental-health-commission-canada-logo.jpg","width":1920,"height":1080,"caption":"Mental Health Commission of Canada"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/mental-health-commission-of-canada\/"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resource\/87306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resource"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/resource"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resource\/87306\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99100,"href":"https:\/\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resource\/87306\/revisions\/99100"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87306"},{"taxonomy":"program","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program?post=87306"},{"taxonomy":"program-area","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program-area?post=87306"},{"taxonomy":"audience","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/audience?post=87306"},{"taxonomy":"covid-hub-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/covid-hub-category?post=87306"},{"taxonomy":"health-canada","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/health-canada?post=87306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}