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Exploring the relationship between stigma and help‐seeking for mental illness in African‐descended faith communities in the UK

BACKGROUND: Stigma related to mental illness affects all ethnic groups, contributing to the production and maintenance of mental illness and restricting access to care and support. However, stigma is especially prevalent in minority communities, thus potentially increasing ethnically based dispariti...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Mantovani, Nadia, Pizzolati, Micol, Edge, Dawn
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5433535/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27124178
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/hex.12464
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author Mantovani, Nadia
Pizzolati, Micol
Edge, Dawn
author_facet Mantovani, Nadia
Pizzolati, Micol
Edge, Dawn
author_sort Mantovani, Nadia
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Stigma related to mental illness affects all ethnic groups, contributing to the production and maintenance of mental illness and restricting access to care and support. However, stigma is especially prevalent in minority communities, thus potentially increasing ethnically based disparities. Little is known of the links between stigma and help‐seeking for mental illness in African‐descended populations in the UK. OBJECTIVE AND STUDY DESIGN: Building on the evidence that faith‐based organizations (FBOs) can aid the development of effective public health strategies, this qualitative study used semi‐structured interviews with faith groups to explore the complex ways in which stigma influences help‐seeking for mental illness in African‐descended communities. A thematic approach to data analysis was applied to the entire data set. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Twenty‐six men and women who had varying levels of involvement with Christian FBOs in south London were interviewed (e.g. six faith leaders, thirteen ‘active members’ and seven ‘regular attendees’). RESULTS: Key factors influencing help‐seeking behaviour were as follows: beliefs about the causes of mental illness; ‘silencing’ of mental illness resulting from heightened levels of ideological stigma; and stigma (re)production and maintenance at community level. Individuals with a diagnosis of mental illness were likely to experience a triple jeopardy in terms of stigma. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: ‘One‐size‐fits‐all’ approaches cannot effectively meet the needs of diverse populations. To ensure that services are more congruent with their needs, health and care organizations should enable service users, families and community members to become active creators of interventions to remove barriers to help‐seeking for mental illness.
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spelling pubmed-54335352017-06-01 Exploring the relationship between stigma and help‐seeking for mental illness in African‐descended faith communities in the UK Mantovani, Nadia Pizzolati, Micol Edge, Dawn Health Expect Original Research Papers BACKGROUND: Stigma related to mental illness affects all ethnic groups, contributing to the production and maintenance of mental illness and restricting access to care and support. However, stigma is especially prevalent in minority communities, thus potentially increasing ethnically based disparities. Little is known of the links between stigma and help‐seeking for mental illness in African‐descended populations in the UK. OBJECTIVE AND STUDY DESIGN: Building on the evidence that faith‐based organizations (FBOs) can aid the development of effective public health strategies, this qualitative study used semi‐structured interviews with faith groups to explore the complex ways in which stigma influences help‐seeking for mental illness in African‐descended communities. A thematic approach to data analysis was applied to the entire data set. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Twenty‐six men and women who had varying levels of involvement with Christian FBOs in south London were interviewed (e.g. six faith leaders, thirteen ‘active members’ and seven ‘regular attendees’). RESULTS: Key factors influencing help‐seeking behaviour were as follows: beliefs about the causes of mental illness; ‘silencing’ of mental illness resulting from heightened levels of ideological stigma; and stigma (re)production and maintenance at community level. Individuals with a diagnosis of mental illness were likely to experience a triple jeopardy in terms of stigma. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: ‘One‐size‐fits‐all’ approaches cannot effectively meet the needs of diverse populations. To ensure that services are more congruent with their needs, health and care organizations should enable service users, families and community members to become active creators of interventions to remove barriers to help‐seeking for mental illness. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2016-04-28 2017-06 /pmc/articles/PMC5433535/ /pubmed/27124178 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/hex.12464 Text en © 2016 The Authors. Health Expectations Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Original Research Papers
Mantovani, Nadia
Pizzolati, Micol
Edge, Dawn
Exploring the relationship between stigma and help‐seeking for mental illness in African‐descended faith communities in the UK
title Exploring the relationship between stigma and help‐seeking for mental illness in African‐descended faith communities in the UK
title_full Exploring the relationship between stigma and help‐seeking for mental illness in African‐descended faith communities in the UK
title_fullStr Exploring the relationship between stigma and help‐seeking for mental illness in African‐descended faith communities in the UK
title_full_unstemmed Exploring the relationship between stigma and help‐seeking for mental illness in African‐descended faith communities in the UK
title_short Exploring the relationship between stigma and help‐seeking for mental illness in African‐descended faith communities in the UK
title_sort exploring the relationship between stigma and help‐seeking for mental illness in african‐descended faith communities in the uk
topic Original Research Papers
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5433535/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27124178
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/hex.12464
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