Welcome: Stigma-Free Organisations
Understanding Stigma: What It Is and Why It Matters
Evidence‑Based Ways to Reduce Stigma (Overview)
Social Contact: The “Why” and the “How”
Education: Building Understanding Without Oversimplifying
Training: Turning Values Into Behaviour and Practice
Structural Interventions: Changing the game, not just the players
Multicomponent Approaches: Combining Actions for Greater Impact
The Implementation Pathway: Co‑Producing and Delivering Change
Avoiding Unintended Harms and Embedding Change
Wrapping up

Multicomponent Approaches: Combining Actions for Greater Impact

Multicomponent interventions combine several anti‑stigma approaches (e.g., social contact + training + policy review). Evidence suggests these are often more effective - and more likely to produce sustained improvement - than single, standalone activities.

Why combining approaches helps

Multicomponent approaches work well because they:

Address multiple drivers of stigma (knowledge, emotions, behaviours, systems)

Reach people who respond differently to different methods

Reduce the risk that one weak element undermines the whole initiative

For example, social contact can shift empathy and reduce “distance”, education can correct myths, training can build practical behaviours, and structural change can embed new norms into routine practice.

What combinations work best

While many combinations can help, evidence suggests social contact‑based multicomponent approaches may be particularly effective. Core ingredients often include:

Personal testimony by trained and well supported people with lived and living experience

Multiple points of contact (video + in‑person, repeated contact)

Skills teaching for behaviour change

Myth refutation done carefully - explore the origin of the myth don’t just repeat it

Enthusiastic facilitation using person‑first perspectives

A focus on positive change

If resources are limited, a useful “lighter” option is contact‑based education - where PWLE act as educators, teaching staff about stigma, care models, and lived realities. This can raise perceived status and disrupt “us/them” power dynamics.