Purpose

The purpose of this research is to determine whether there is a correlation between the levels of racial and mental illness sensitivity and the perceptions of dangerousness and the need for social distancing in African American students, as well as the extent of target demographics’ performance.

Hypothesis

It is predicted that the increase in racial and mental illness sensitivity will decrease the perceptions of dangerousness and social distancing, thus having a positive effect on the performance of African American Students. To test this hypothesis, a survey will be conducted to measure perceptions of dangerousness and social distancing stigmatization, which influence (or compared to) racial and mental illness stigma. The main independent variable, namely, the level of racial and mental illness sensitivity, is shaped by the dependent variables of perceived dangerousness of African Americans and the necessity to introduce social distancing.

Method

Participants

In this experiment, fifty students from the General Psychology course at Southern University and A&M College will be selected to participate voluntarily. The students will be offered extra credit for participation in the study. The age of the participants will range from 17 to 35 years old and be classified based on gender. The study will obtain informed consent from all participants.

Materials

The materials that will be used for this experiment will be a sheet containing instructions within a paragraph with a pen. A paper questionnaire will be provided for the survey. Samples of these forms will be in the Appendices.

Procedures

This study will use a quantitative research design. The participants will be randomly assigned to either group one, consisting of twenty-five one or group two of twenty five based on the random distributions of twenty-five of survey one and twenty five of survey two. The Dependent Variable, namely, the perceived dangerousness, will be measured with the following: “Some people with mental health problems are dangerous.” Possible responses are: (1) strongly disagree, (2) somewhat agree, (3) agree, (4) somewhat agree, and (5) strongly agree.

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Dependent Variable social distance will be measured with the following “Chris has just been released from psychiatric care, in your opinion, how likely are you to sit next to him in a lobby? Possible responses are (1) very likely, (2) somewhat likely, (3) likely, (4) not likely, and (5) not likely at all.

Independent variable race will be measured by self-identification of participants as “African American or black”, scored (1), or “Other”, scored (0). The specified framework represents the scales for race and mental illness stigma. An additional measurement of race will be in response racial oriented questions. Possibility of responses will be scored (1) strongly disagree, (2) somewhat disagree, (3) agree, (4) somewhat agree, and (5) strongly agree.

Independent variable mental illness stigma will be measured will be response mental illness oriented question. Possibility of responses will be scored (1) strongly disagree, (2) somewhat disagree, (3) agree, (4) somewhat agree, and (5) strongly agree. The scale in question, known as the Likert scale, is a common tool for conducting research and collecting data. The scale is considered to be marginally reliable due to the clear delineation of core answer options.

The participants will be provided a consent form to sign. The form will contain a detailed explanation of the goals of the project, as well as the participants’ role in it. By signing the consent form, the participants will confirm that they accept the terms of the project and will participate in it as instructed. The project will involve random assignment as the means of increasing the extent of results’ objectivity. The treatment will be represented by a framework based on the Cognitive Behavior therapy approach. The participants will be thanked after the research for contributing to the management of the issue.


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