Reducing Stigma in Health Professionals: The Impact of Contact with Mental Health Consumers

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire O'Reilly ◽  
Graham Thornicroft ◽  
Alan Rosen ◽  
Timothy Chen
2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Babak Hemmatian ◽  
Sze Yu Yu Chan ◽  
Steven A. Sloman

A label’s entrenchment, its degree of use by members of a community, affects its perceived explanatory value even if the label provides no substantive information (Hemmatian & Sloman, 2018). In three experiments, we show that laypersons and mental health professionals see entrenched psychiatric and non-psychiatric diagnostic labels as better explanations than non-entrenched labels even if they are circular. Using scenarios involving experts who discuss unfamiliar diagnostic categories, we show that this preference is not due to violations of conversational norms, lack of reflectiveness or attentiveness, and the characters’ familiarity or unfamiliarity with the label. In Experiment 1, whether a label provided novel symptom information or not had no impact on lay responses, while its entrenchment enhanced ratings of explanation quality. The effect persisted in Experiment 2 for causally incoherent categories and regardless of direct provision of mechanistic information. The effect of entrenchment was partly related to induced causal beliefs about the category, even when participants were informed there is no causal relation. Most participants in both experiments did not report any effect of entrenchment and the effect was present for those who did not. In Experiment 3, mental health professionals showed the effect using diagnoses that were mere shorthands for symptoms, despite a tendency to rate all explanations as unsatisfactory. The data suggest that bringing experts’ attention to the manipulation eliminates the effect. We discuss practical implications for mental health disciplines and potential ways to mitigate the impact of entrenchment.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Roisin McGrath ◽  
Rodrigo Marino ◽  
Julie Satur

Abstract Background This study explored the oral health promotion practices of Australian community mental health professionals working with people living with severe mental illness (SMI). Methods An anonymous cross-sectional web-based survey was distributed to all Community Rehabilitation and Support Workers (CRSWs) working at Neami National (n = 471), an Australian community mental health service. The validated questionnaire assessed participants’ self-rated oral health knowledge and confidence (7 questions); their perceived barriers (9 questions) and attitudes (5 questions) to oral health promotion; and their oral health promotion practices (7 questions). Differences in responses between groups were analysed using Chi-square, Fisher’s exact and Mann–Whitney U tests. Logistic Regression Analysis served to explore the probability of providing oral health support to mental health consumers. Results A total of 141 CRSWs were included in this study, achieving a response rate of 30 percent. Roughly two-fifths (39.0%) of participants had oral health training in the previous 12-months. The majority of CRSWs (89.3%) believed (‘Agreed’ or ‘Strongly agreed’) that mental health support workers have a role to play in promoting oral health. However, less than half (44.0%) of CRSWs practiced oral health promotion activities when working with mental health consumers. When asked about barriers to promoting oral health, ‘lack of consumer interest’ was the most prevalent issue. CRSWs who had oral health training were over three-times (OR 3.5, 95% CI 1.25–9.83, p = 0.017) more likely to provide oral health support. Results showed the provision of oral health support was most strongly associated with self-rated knowledge and confidence (OR 4.089, 95% CI 1.629–10.263, p = 0.003) and attitudes to oral health promotion (OR 3.906, 95% CI 1.77–8.65, p = 0.001). Conclusion The results of this study suggest that mental health support workers who have more positive attitudes to oral health promotion and who have higher self-rated oral health knowledge and confidence are more likely to provide oral health support in their professional role. Training for community mental health professionals is essential to build confidence and skills to promote oral health for mental health consumers.


2021 ◽  
pp. 002581722098181
Author(s):  
Shweta Sunil ◽  
Manoj Kumar Sharma ◽  
Nitin Anand

Online gaming has become a concern for health professionals due to its dysfunctional effects. This study aimed to conceptualise and summarise the impact that gaming platforms like PUBG can have on an individual’s mental health. A systematic review was conducted using the PRISMA model. A total of five papers were shortlisted and reviewed for the purpose of this study. The results indicated the use of gaming platforms like PUBG by players to address and cope with anxiety and depression, and it also highly influences the presence of other concerns like ADHD and suicidality, self-harm and aggressive behaviours. While the literature points to the detrimental effects of PUBG, this study highlights the importance of undertaking more research to establish the causal patterns in PUBG use and how to address the issues posed from both psychological and legal perspectives.


2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (5) ◽  
pp. 410-416 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. P. Segal ◽  
S. L. Hayes

Mental health consumers/survivors developed consumer-run services (CRSs) as alternatives to disempowering professionally run services that limited participant self-determination. The objective of the CRS is to promote recovery outcomes, not to cure or prevent mental illness. Recovery outcomes pave the way to a satisfying life as defined by the individual consumer despite repetitive episodes of disorder. Recovery is a way of life, which through empowerment, hope, self-efficacy, minimisation of self-stigma, and improved social integration, may offer a path to functional improvement that may lead to a better way to manage distress and minimise the impact of illness episodes. ‘Nothing about us without us’ is the defining objective of the process activity that defines self-help. It is the giving of agency to participants. Without such process there is a real question as to whether an organisation is a legitimate CRS or simply a non-governmental organisation run by a person who claims lived experience. In considering the effectiveness of CRSs, fidelity should be defined by the extent to which the organisation's process conveys agency. Unidirectional helping often does for people what they can do for themselves, stealing agency. The consequence of the lack of fidelity in CRSs to the origins of the self-help movement has been a general finding in multisite studies of no or little difference in outcomes attributable to the consumer service. This, from the perspective of the research summarised herein, results in the mixing of programmatic efforts, some of which enhance outcomes as they are true mutual assistance programmes and some of which degrade outcomes as they are unidirectional, hierarchical, staff-directed helping efforts making false claims to providing agency. The later CRS interventions may provoke disappointment and additional failure. The indiscriminate combining of studies produces the average: no effect.


2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brenda Happell ◽  
Robert Stanton ◽  
David Scott

Background Comorbid chronic illnesses, such as cardiovascular disease, respiratory conditions, and type 2 diabetes are common among people with serious mental illness. Management of comorbid illness in the mental health setting is sometimes ad hoc and poorly delivered. Use of a cardiometabolic health nurse (CHN) is proposed as one strategy to improve the delivery of physical health care to this vulnerable population. Objective To report the CHN's utilization of primary care and allied health referrals from a trial carried out in a regional community mental health service. Design Feasibility study. Mental health consumers were referred by their case manager or mental health nurse to the CHN. The CHN coordinated the physical health care of community-based mental health consumers by identifying the need for, and providing referrals to, additional services, including primary care, allied health, and community-based services. Results Sixty-two percent of participants referred to the CHN received referrals for primary care, allied health, and community-based services. Almost all referrals received follow-up by the CHN. Referrals were most commonly directed to a general practitioner and for nurse-delivered services. Conclusion The CHN role shows promise in coordinating the physical health of community-based mental health consumers. More studies on role integration and development of specific outcome measurement tools are needed.


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