Search results for ‘Subject term:"mental health problems"’ Sort:
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The quality of life, mental health, and perceived stigma of leprosy patients in Bangladesh
- Authors:
- TSUTSUMI Atsuro, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Social Science and Medicine, 64(12), June 2007, pp.2443-2453.
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
The present study aims to determine the quality of life (QOL) and general mental health of leprosy patients compared with the general population, and evaluate contributing factors such as socio-economic characteristics and perceived stigma. A total of 189 patients (160 outpatients, 29 inpatients) and 200 controls without leprosy or other chronic diseases were selected from Dhaka district, Bangladesh, using stratified random sampling. A Bangladeshi version of a structured questionnaire including socio-demographic characteristics—the Bangla version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment BREF (WHOQOL-BREF)—was used to assess QOL; a Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ) was used to evaluate general mental health; the Barthel Index to control activities of daily living (ADL); and the authors’ Perceived Stigma Questionnaire was used to assess perceived stigma of patients with leprosy. Medical records were examined to evaluate disability grades and impairment. QOL and general mental health scores of leprosy patients were worse than those of the general population. Multiple regression analysis revealed that factors potentially contributing to the deteriorated QOL of leprosy patients were the presence of perceived stigma, fewer years of education, the presence of deformities, and a lower annual income. Perceived stigma showed the greatest association with adverse QOL. The authors conclude that there is an urgent need for interventions sensitive to the effects of perceived stigma, gender, and medical conditions to improve the QOL and mental health of Bangladeshi leprosy patients.
There's no place like (a) home: ontological security among persons with serious mental illness in the United States
- Author:
- PADGETT Deborah K.
- Journal article citation:
- Social Science and Medicine, 64(9), May 2007, pp.1925-1936.
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
As the homelessness ‘crisis’ in the United States enters a third decade, few are as adversely affected as persons with serious mental illness. Despite recent evidence favouring a ‘housing first’ approach, the dominant ‘treatment first’ approach persists in which individuals must climb a ladder of program requirements before becoming eligible for an apartment of their own. Drawing upon the concept of ‘ontological security’, this qualitative study examines the subjective meaning of ‘home’ among 39 persons who were part of a unique urban experiment that provided New York City's homeless mentally ill adults with immediate access to independent housing in the late 1990s. The study design involved purposively sampling from the experimental (housing first) group (N=21) and the control (treatment first) group (N=18) and conducting two life history interviews with each participant. Markers of ontological security—constancy, daily routines, privacy, and having a secure base for identity construction—provided sensitizing concepts for grounded theory analyses designed to also yield emergent, or new, themes. Findings revealed clear evidence of the markers of ontological security among participants living in their own apartments. This study expands upon previous research showing that homeless mentally ill persons are capable of independent living in the community. The emergent theme of ‘what's next’ questions and uncertainty about the future points to the need to address problems of stigma and social exclusion that extend beyond the minimal achievement of having a ‘home’.
Pathways in health and well-being
- Author:
- WILTSHIRE Kim
- Journal article citation:
- A Life in the Day, 11(1), February 2007, pp.9-11.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
The author describes how Pathways, a Manchester-based three-year arts programme, helped people overcome challenges of living with mental ill health.
Mental health, employment and gender: cross-sectional evidence in a sample of refugees from Bosnia-Herzegovina living in two Swedish regions
- Authors:
- BLIGHT Karin Johansson, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Social Science and Medicine, 62(7), April 2006, pp.1697-1709.
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
Large regional differences regarding access to employment have been observed amongst persons from Bosnia-Herzegovina coming to Sweden in 1993–1994. This has led to questions about the role of mental health. To explore this further, postal survey questionnaires were distributed to a community sample (N=650) that was stratified and, within strata, randomly selected from a sampling frame of persons coming to Sweden from Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1993–1994. Four hundred and thirteen persons returned the questionnaire providing a response rate of 63.5%. The aim was to increase knowledge about the relationship between mental health and employment in the chosen population. The main mental health outcome measure was the Göteborg Quality of Life instrument from which 360 respondents were grouped according to low or high symptom levels. Data were cross tabulated against background variables such as age, gender and occupational status, and then tested using binary logistic regression. Binary logistic regression revealed unemployed men but not women, and women who had been working for longer periods during 1993–1999, to be associated with high levels of symptoms of poor mental health. Women living in the urban region were also overrepresented in the high symptom group. These findings indicate that, job occupancy is important to the health of men in the study. However, for the women, further understanding is needed, as job occupancy at some level as well as living in the urban region appear to be associated with poor mental health.
Religious coping in highly religious psychiatric inpatients
- Author:
- PIEPER Joseph Z. P.
- Journal article citation:
- Mental Health Religion and Culture, 7(4), December 2004, pp.349-363.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
This study among highly religious psychiatric patients in a mental hospital in the Netherlands focused on the following issues: their religious and spiritual beliefs and activities; their religious coping activities, measured using Pargament's three coping styles and a positive religious coping scale; the influence of religious coping on psychological and existential well-being; and the predictive value of general religiousness, as compared with religious coping activities, regarding psychological and existential well-being. For this population of inpatients, religion had a positive influence on their ways of dealing with mental problems; religious coping was positively correlated with existential and psychological well-being. General religiousness as well as religious coping were positively correlated with existential well-being, whereas psychological well-being primarily was predicted by positive religious coping. Results are discussed in the context of theoretical notions of religious coping, addressing in particular the positive influence of religious beliefs, relying on God, religious activities and religious social support in psychological and existential times of crisis.
Quality of life in boarding houses and hostels: a residents' perspective
- Authors:
- HORAN Matthew E., et al
- Journal article citation:
- Community Mental Health Journal, 37(4), August 2001, pp.323-334.
- Publisher:
- Springer
In the last forty years deinstitutionalisation has transferred the care of people with a serious mental illness from the psychiatric hospitals to community based facilities. More recently it has been questioned whether these new facilities offer the anticipated benefits of quality of life. This study examines the Quality of Life (QOL) of people diagnosed with schizophrenia living in two different accommodation facilities, hostels and boarding houses in Australia. QOL is examines from the resident's perspective. Lehmans' (1988b) QOL interview was used to measure objective, subjective, and global QOL of 60 participants in three hostels and two boarding house clusters. Hostel and boarding house data were compared and results showed that residents preferred boarding house accommodation. Overall, residents of both accommodation facilities reported satisfaction with QOL, and indicated that they regard them as asylum or sanctuary from the outside world.
Negative and supportive social interaction and quality of life among persons diagnosed with severe mental illness
- Authors:
- YANOS Philip T, ROSENFIELD Sarah, HORWITZ Allan V.
- Journal article citation:
- Community Mental Health Journal, 37(5), October 2001, pp.405-419.
- Publisher:
- Springer
Examines the relative importance of negative and supportive social interactions in predicting different aspects of quality of life (QOL) in a sample of persons diagnosed with severe mental illness in the USA. Results found that negative social interactions were significantly related to lower QOL in three subjective domains, while supportive social interactions were related to higher QOL in four objective domains and one subjective domain. Discuss the implications of the present findings for the study of the link between social relationships and QOL among persons with mental illness.
Quality of life: priorities for people with enduring mental health problems
- Author:
- MAYERS Christine A.
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 63(12), December 2000, pp.591-597.
- Publisher:
- Sage
This article interviewed eleven people with enduring mental health problems about their quality of life. The analysis of the data collected indicates that the key areas that were problems affecting their quality of life were lack of personal achievement, lack of job, difficulty in forming and maintaining relationships, loneliness, health problems, lack of leisure activities, personal safety and looking after self. The literature review also clearly indicates that finance and access to benefits were priorities for people with enduring mental health problems.
Brief report: purpose in life and self-actualisation in agency-supported caregivers
- Authors:
- RHOADES Donna R., McFARLAND Kay F.
- Journal article citation:
- Community Mental Health Journal, 36(5), October 2000, pp.513-521.
- Publisher:
- Springer
When families cannot serve as full-time caregivers for severely, mentally ill family members, agency-supported caregivers provide an alternative to chronic hospitalisation. This study observes positive experiences of paid caregivers for seriously, mentally ill individuals especially the meaning or purpose it gives their lives and the self-fulfilment or self-actualisation that caregiving provides. The caregivers in this study possessed a high purpose in life suggesting that caregiving may give meaning to life. Also, the caregivers of these individuals with severe, mental illness tend to be highly other-oriented (altruistic), an external focus that may decrease their own self-awareness. Concludes that, caregivers who provide continuous residential care may benefit from therapeutic interventions designed to reinforce self-care skills.
The changing pattern of mental health problems in HIV infection: the view from London, UK
- Authors:
- CATALAN J., MEADOWS J., DOUZENIS A.
- Journal article citation:
- AIDS Care, 12(3), June 2000, pp.333-341.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
Reports on some of the changes seen among people with HIV infection being looked after in a Central London teaching hospital and referred to the mental health services.