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This article discusses the importance of the relationship between cultural awareness (CA) training and post-training reflection in the health-care sector, and considers the implications for future developments for CA training in relation to content, audience, process and format.

A total of 77 health and social care professionals (HCSPs) took part in a 4-h CA training, 25 of whom also opted for an additional optional reflection hour. The results reported on in this paper are drawn from the experiences of the 25 participants in the optional reflection sessions (RSs), using a thematic analysis approach.

Participants highly valued the “safe space” in both the CA workshop and the optional follow-on RS, enabling them to share experiences, revisit topics and feel supported to put things into practice. They also reported a growing confidence in dealing with intercultural challenges, in particular in asking questions and being curious about topics they did not understand.

This research points towards a strong recommendation for open-ended CA training, allowing participants to articulate their experiences, fears and concerns. It also highlights the importance of a follow-on RS as an integral part of CA training; both of these were found to offer opportunities for strengthening HSCPs’ skills and facilitate the transition of learning from the workshop context into the workplace, with the ultimate aim of reducing inequalities in the quality of patient care.

This paper aims to assess the presence of mental health stigma among public safety personnel (PSP) in Portugal.

An online self-administered form was applied, including the Attribution Questionnaire (AQ-9), the Attitudes Towards Mental Health Problems scale (ATMHP) and the socio-demographic characterisation: age, gender, marital status, children, education and geographical location. The sample included police officers, workers of the General Directorate of Reintegration and Prison Services (DGRSP) and workers of the National Institute of Medical Emergency (INEM), as well as a control group (general population).

In total, 1,441 people participated, of whom 85% were police officers, 3.3% were INEM staff, 2.6% were DGRSP staff and 9.1% were from general population. The most common socio-demographic characteristics were male, married/common-law marriage, two children, 12 years of education and living in Lisbon and Tagus Valley. On AQ-9, all groups showed higher scores on the stigmatizing constructs help, pity and coercion and lower scores on blame, anger, segregation and avoidance. For the total score, the authors found significant differences only in comparison with INEM, who scored lower. The ATMHP showed that INEM and police officers generally had lower total scores than DGRSP and the general population, with the general population having the highest score. There were no significant gender differences for most of the results in both questionnaires.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study assessing mental health stigma among PSP in Portugal. The authors found stigma among PSP, with INEM showing a lower score in stigmatizing attributions, and INEM and police officers showing better attitudes and less shame towards mental illness.