Search results for ‘Subject term:"mental health problems"’ Sort:
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Physical activity preferences, motivators, barriers and attitudes of adults with mental illness
- Authors:
- CHAPMAN Justin J., et al
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Mental Health, 25(5), 2016, pp.448-454.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- London
Background: Adults with mental illness may have specific attitudes toward physical activity (PA). Aims: To assess the PA attitudes of non-institutionalised adults with mental illness, and associations with psychological distress. Method: Participants completed questionnaires on activity preferences (type, context and sources of support), motivators, barriers and attitudes toward personal training (PT). Relationships between responses and distress were assessed using logistic regressions. Results: One-hundred forty-two participants completed the questionnaires. PA context preferences included activities done close to home, outdoors, with professional instruction, with people of the same ability, as part of a healthy lifestyle program and with a social component. The most commonly endorsed source of support was an exercise instructor. Most respondents had never received PT; however, PT had high acceptability. Common barriers included poor physical and mental health, and lack of money. Distress was positively associated with barriers of poor mental health, tiredness, disorganisation, exhaustion and being shy/embarrassed. Conclusions: Local outdoor walking groups that include social and healthy lifestyle components, and that are led by an exercise instructor who can provide support for overcoming barriers, may best meet PA interests of this group. PT could be an acceptable method for offering individualised support. (Edited publisher abstract)
Predictors of perceptions of mental illness and averseness to help: a survey of elite football players
- Author:
- JONES Tiffanie-Victoria
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Mental Health, 25(5), 2016, pp.422-427.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- London
Background: Hypermasculinity may impact elite football players’ willingness to seek help for mental health problems. Aims: This quantitative study sought to identify what set of characteristics, including hypermasculinity, best predicts elite football players’ mental health attitudes. Method: The Attitude Scale for Mental Illness, Inventory of Attitudes toward Seeking Mental Health Services, and Athlete’s Perception of Masculinity Scale were self-administered to 112 football players from the NFLPA and the Washington, DC metro area. Results: Canonical correlation analysis was used to develop a regression model that best predicts elite football players’ mental health attitudes. This study found that though the athletes have high levels of hypermasculinity, other factors, including marital status and sport level lessen the effects of hypermasculinity and facilitate positive perceptions of mental illness and receptivity to help. Conclusions: Predictors suggest that therapeutic efforts targeted toward family and support networks, as well as intervention strategies for decreasing mental illness stigma are essential to encourage positive mental health attitudes in elite football players. (Edited publisher abstract)
Transportations of space, time and self: the role of reading groups in managing mental distress in the community
- Authors:
- SHIPMAN Judith, McGRATH Laura
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Mental Health, 25(5), 2016, pp.416-421.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- London
Background: The practice of reading and discussing literature in groups is long established, stretching back into classical antiquity. Although benefits of therapeutic reading groups have been highlighted, research into participants’ perceptions of these groups has been limited. Aims: To explore the experiences of those attending therapeutic reading groups, considering the role of both the group, and the literature itself, in participants’ ongoing experiences of distress. Method: Eleven participants were recruited from two reading groups in the South-East of England. One focus group was run, and eight individuals self-selected for individual interviews. The data were analysed together using a thematic analysis drawing on dialogical theories. Results: Participants described the group as an anchor, which enabled them to use fiction to facilitate the discussion of difficult emotional topics, without referring directly to personal experience. Two aspects of this process are explored in detail: the use of narratives as transportation, helping to mitigate the intensity of distress; and using fiction to explore possibilities, alternative selves and lives. Conclusions: For those who are interested and able, reading groups offer a relatively de-stigmatised route to exploring and mediating experiences of distress. Implications in the present UK funding environment are discussed. (Publisher abstract)
Factors associated with experienced discrimination among people using mental health services in England
- Authors:
- HAMILTON S., et al
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Mental Health, 25(4), 2016, pp.350-358.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- London
Background: Research has found considerable variation in how far individuals with a diagnosis of mental illness experience discrimination. Aims: This study tested four hypotheses: (i) a diagnosis of schizophrenia will be associated with more discrimination than depression, anxiety or bipolar disorder; (ii) people with a history of involuntary treatment will report more discrimination than people without; (iii) higher levels of avoidance behaviour due to anticipated discrimination will be associated with higher levels of discrimination and (iv) longer time in contact with services will be associated with higher levels of discrimination. Method: Three thousand five hundred and seventy-nine people using mental health services in England took part in structured telephone interviews about discrimination experiences. Results: A multiple regression model found that study year, age, employment status, length of time in mental health services, disagreeing with the diagnosis, anticipating discrimination in personal relationships and feeling the need to conceal a diagnosis from others were significantly associated with higher levels of experienced discrimination. Conclusion: Findings suggest that discrimination is not related to specific diagnoses but rather is associated with mental health problems generally. An association between unemployment and discrimination may indicate that employment protects against experiences of discrimination, supporting efforts to improve access to employment among people with a diagnosis of mental illness. (Publisher abstract)
Mental health, smoking and poverty in the UK:
- Author:
- LANGLEY Tessa
- Publication year:
- 2016
- Pagination:
- 25
- Place of publication:
- Nottingham
By using information from existing research and datasets, this report quantifies the extent to which smoking exacerbates poverty in adults with mental health conditions in the UK. It estimates the number adults in the UK with mental health problems who are recognised as living in poverty and who currently smoke; the expenditure of these smokers on tobacco; and the number of adults with a mental disorder not formally classified as being in poverty, but who are smokers and would be classified as living in poverty if their expenditure on tobacco were subtracted from their household income. Analysis is based on two nationally representative datasets, the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey and the Health Survey for England. The analysis found that smoking prevalence is very high in poor adults with a mental problem, with an estimated 900,000-1,200,000 people with a common mental disorder living in poverty who are currently smokers. It also estimates that approximately 10% of the estimated 1.3 million poor smokers with common mental health problems would be lifted out of poverty if they were to quit smoking. The report suggest that the average annual expenditure by poor smokers with a mental disorder is around £1220. The report concludes that smoking creates a significant financial burden for an already deprived group. Strengths and limitations of the study are also highlighted. (Edited publisher abstract)
Young people's narratives of depression
- Authors:
- ISSAKAINEN Mervi, HANNINEN Vilma
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Youth Studies, 19(2), 2016, pp.237-250.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
This article reports on findings from a study, which aimed to gain insight into young people's depression as a part of their life course by analysing written accounts of 81 young Finnish people who self-identified as having been depressed. The participants’ accounts were seen as reflecting both their actual life and their narrative interpretations of it in relation to the prevailing normative conceptions regarding youth. The accounts can be grouped into four main story types. The story type referred to as growing up on a sidetrack depicts depression as having its origins in childhood adversities that hinder the realisation of normative goals. Falling off the track depicts how a young person's life can be derailed as a result of experiences that cause or exacerbate depression. In the story missing the track, depression is intertwined with one's experience of failure in meeting normative expectations, whereas the story questioning the track features the problematisation of such expectations. The results underscore the importance of tackling different adverse conditions in childhood, adolescence and young adulthood in a timely fashion, as well as the importance of therapy, counselling and guidance, which help young people to manage difficulties and depression in their life. (Publisher abstract)
Geographical barriers to mental health service care among individuals with an intellectual disability in the Republic of Ireland
- Authors:
- RAMSAY Hugh, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities, 13(4), 2016, pp.261-268.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
People with an intellectual disability (ID) are more likely to experience mental health difficulties than others. The United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) states that health services should be provided close to people's own communities. This article examines differences in access to psychiatry services for those with an ID according to geography, in the context of a small European country (Republic of Ireland). The sample consisted of 753 individuals aged 40 and over with ID in the Republic of Ireland, with data collected from the Intellectual Disability Supplement of the Irish Longitudinal Study on Aging (IDS-TILDA). The primary outcome of interest was attendance with any psychiatrist and the primary independent variables were area of residence (health service region and degree of county urbanicity). Logistic regression was used to analyse associations, unadjusted and then controlling for age group, gender and level of ID. Secondary analysis examined factors associated with anti-psychotic prescription without psychiatrist supervision. Treatment by a psychiatrist was associated with both health region (p = 0.029) and degree of urbanicity (p = 0.015) before controlling for group differences but only the health region was significantly associated after controlling for age, gender and level of ID. Antipsychotic use without a psychiatrist was associated with degree of urbanicity (p = 0.036) but not with health service region (p = 0.989). Geographic factors are associated with access to mental health services among those with ID in the Republic of Ireland. This may be partly due to movement of people with ID away from their area of origin, highlighting the need for locally tailored specialist ID mental health teams and for further research into barriers to treatment. Additional work in other countries will further understanding of similar roles of geographic factors in mediating mental health services access. (Edited publisher abstract)
Disentangling the mental health impact of childhood abuse and neglect
- Authors:
- CECIL Charlotte A.M., et al
- Journal article citation:
- Child Abuse and Neglect, 63, 2016, p.106–119.
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
It is unclear whether maltreatment types exert common or specific effects on mental health. In the current study, the authors aimed to systematically characterise the unique, shared and cumulative effects of maltreatment types on psychiatric symptoms, using data drawn from a community sample of high-risk youth (n = 204, M = 18.85). Analyses controlled for a range of potentially confounding variables, including socio-demographic variables, neighbourhood deprivation and levels of community violence exposure. Outcome measures included multi-informant reports of internalising difficulties, as well as data on externalising problems and trauma-related symptoms. The authors found that (i) consistent with previous studies, maltreatment types were highly interrelated and frequently co-occurred; (ii) symptom severity linearly increased with the number of maltreatment types experienced (more so for self-report vs informant ratings); and (iii) while most forms of maltreatment were significantly associated with mental health outcomes when examined individually, few unique effects were observed when modelling maltreatment types simultaneously, pointing to an important role of shared variance in driving maltreatment effects on mental health. Emotional abuse emerged as the main independent predictor of psychiatric symptomatology – over and above other maltreatment types – and this effect was comparable for males and females (i.e. no significant interaction with sex). Findings contribute to a better understanding of heterogeneity in individual responses to maltreatment. (Edited publisher abstract)
The unique relation of childhood emotional maltreatment with mental health problems among detained male and female adolescents
- Authors:
- VAHL Pauline, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Child Abuse and Neglect, 62, 2016, pp.142-150.
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
Mounting evidence indicates that emotional maltreatment is at least as harmful as physical and sexual abuse. Notwithstanding their high occurrence among detained adolescents, the link between emotional maltreatment and mental health problems in these youths is not well researched. This study, therefore, was designed to examine the unique link between emotional maltreatment and mental health problems, with particular attention to gender differences. Well validated self-report measures of maltreatment experiences (Childhood Trauma Questionnaire) and mental health problems (Youth Self Report) were completed by 341 detained adolescents (156 boys, 185 girls) aged 12 to 18 years. As expected, girls reported higher levels of maltreatment experiences and internalizing and externalizing mental health problems than boys. Blockwise multiple linear regression analyses indicated that in both genders emotional abuse was uniquely and positively associated with internalizing and externalizing mental health problems, over and above the influence of other types of maltreatment. Furthermore, sexual abuse was uniquely related with internalizing problems in girls only, whereas only in boys this type of abuse was uniquely related with externalizing problems. Detained adolescents who have been the victim of emotional abuse in combination with another type of maltreatment may be the worst subgroup in terms of mental health problems. Therefore, emotional maltreatment experiences in adolescents who offend should receive more research and clinical attention. (Publisher abstract)
Validation of Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS) in a population of people using Secondary Care Mental Health Services
- Authors:
- BASS Malcolm, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Mental Health, 25(4), 2016, pp.323-329.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- London
Aims: To investigate the validity of using the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS) for measuring the mental well-being of users in a secondary care mental health service user population. Method: Data was collected from two NHS Trusts and one charity. Analyses are based on 1180 completed WEMWBS. Results: WEMWBS scores for this population are significantly lower than those in a general population (Mean 34.9, SD 13.8). Overall the data analyses supported the use of WEMWBS in this population sample. The Rasch analysis found that the majority of the items can be seen as measuring one dimension. The confirmatory factor analysis supports a one factor solution and thus, measures a single underlying concept. Conclusions: The findings from this study show WEMWBS to be a valid and reliable measure for this population sample. (Edited publisher abstract)