Clare Flach

Experiences of discrimination among people using mental health services in England 2008-2011

BACKGROUND Research suggests that levels of discrimination against people using mental health services are high; however, reports of these peoples experiences are rare. AIMS To determine whether the Time to Change (TTC) programme target of 5% reduction in discrimination has been achieved. METHOD Separate samples of people using mental health services were interviewed annually from 2008 to 2011 using the Discrimination and Stigma Scale to record instances of discrimination. RESULTS Ninety-one per cent of participants reported one or more experiences of discrimination in 2008 compared with 88% in 2011 (z = -1.9, P = 0.05). The median negative discrimination score was 40% in 2008 and 28% in 2011 (Kruskal-Wallis χ(2) = 83.4, P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS The proportion of participants experiencing no discrimination increased significantly over the course of TTC but by less than the initial target. The overall median discrimination score fell by 11.5%. Data from 2010 and 2011 suggest that these gains may be hard to maintain during economic austerity.

Development and psychometric properties of the Reported and Intended Behaviour Scale (RIBS): a stigma-related behaviour measure

BACKGROUND Although stigma in relation to mental health has been defined as including components of knowledge, attitudes and behaviour, no psychometrically tested instrument to assess behavioural discrimination at the population level has been developed. This paper presents details of the development and psychometric properties of the Reported and Intended Behaviour Scale (RIBS), an instrument based on the Star Social Distance Scale, to assess reported (past and current) and intended (future) behavioural discrimination among the general public against people with mental health problems. METHODS Three studies were carried out to evaluate psychometric properties of the RIBS (Study 1, n = 92; Study 2, n = 37; Study 3, n = 403). Adults aged 25-45 in socio-economic groups: B, C1 and C2 (middle-income groups) took part in development and testing of the RIBS. RESULTS Internal consistency and test-retest reliability is moderate/substantial. Strong consensus validity was found, as rated by service users/consumers and international experts in stigma research. CONCLUSIONS Use of a behavioural outcome may be important to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions intended to reduce stigma and/or discrimination related to mental illness. The RIBS was found to be a brief, feasible and psychometrically robust measure for assessing mental health-related reported and intended behavioural discrimination.

Filmed v. live social contact interventions to reduce stigma: randomised controlled trial

BACKGROUND Direct social contact interventions are known to reduce mental health stigma. Filmed social contact may be equally effective and have practical and cost advantages. AIMS To compare the effectiveness of a DVD, a live intervention and a lecture control, in reducing stigma, testing the hypotheses that: (a) DVD and live interventions will be equally effective; and (b) the interventions with social contact (DVD/live) will be more effective than the lecture. Cost-effectiveness, process and acceptability are also assessed. METHOD Student nurses were randomised to: (a) watch a DVD of service users/informal carers talking about their experiences, (b) watch a similar live presentation, or (c) attend a lecture. Primary outcomes were changes in attitudes (using the Mental Illness: Clinicians Attitudes Scale, MICA), emotional reactions (using the Emotional Reactions to Mental Illness Scale, ERMIS), intended proximity (using the Reported and Intended Behaviour Scale, RIBS), and knowledge (using the Social Contact Intended Learning Outcomes, SCILO), immediately after the intervention and at 4-month follow-up. RESULTS For the 216 participants, there were no differences between the DVD and live groups on MICA, ERMIS or RIBS scores. The DVD group had higher SCILO (knowledge) scores. The combined social contact group (DVD/live) had better MICA and RIBS scores than the lecture group, the latter difference maintained at 4 months. The DVD was the most cost-effective of the interventions, and the live session the most popular. CONCLUSIONS Our hypotheses were confirmed. This study supports the wider use of filmed social contact interventions to reduce stigma about mental illness.

Knowledge and Attitudes as Predictors of Intentions to Seek Help for and Disclose a Mental Illness

OBJECTIVE Individuals often choose not to seek help for or disclose their mental illness. This study examined whether having more positive attitudes and more knowledge about mental illness could predict intentions to seek help from a general practitioner and to disclose a mental illness to friends and family members. METHODS A Department of Health survey in England assessed knowledge about mental illness, attitudes toward people with mental illness, and level of contact with someone with a mental illness among 1,751 adults representative of the general population. RESULTS With controls for social grade and race-ethnicity, intentions to seek help were predicted by better knowledge about mental illness, tolerance and support for community care of mental illness, and older age. Willingness to disclose ones mental illness was associated with better knowledge. CONCLUSIONS Initiatives that increase knowledge and positive attitudes about mental illness among the general population may improve the extent to which individuals seek help for and disclose a mental illness.

England's Time to Change Antistigma Campaign: One-Year Outcomes of Service User-Rated Experiences of Discrimination

OBJECTIVE This study evaluated the progress at one year of Englands Time to Change (TTC) program, launched in 2009, toward meeting its target to reduce mental health-related stigma and discrimination by 5%. METHODS TTC comprises three national components: antistigma marketing campaign activities, mass physical exercise events (Time to Get Moving) to facilitate social contact between people with and without mental health problems, and an online resource on mental health and employment (Time to Challenge). Part of the TTC evaluation consists of an annual national phone survey of mental health service users. Participants (537 in 2008 and 1,047 in 2009) were current outpatient service users aged 18-65 registered with National Health Service community mental health teams that are selected annually to represent the range of socioeconomic deprivation. Telephone interviews were conducted with service users with the Discrimination and Stigma Scale (DISC) to document experienced discrimination and anticipated discrimination in the past 12 months. RESULTS One or more experiences of discrimination were reported by 9-1% of participants in 2008 and 87% of participants in 2009 (p = .03). In 2009 significantly less discrimination was reported from a number of common sources, including family (reported by 53% in 2008 and 46% in 2009), friends (53% and 39%), finding employment (24% and 16%), and keeping employment (from 17% to 13%). Experiences of discrimination from mental health professionals did not change significantly (reported by about one-third of participants in both years). CONCLUSIONS Results suggest positive progress toward meeting the programs targeted 5% reduction in discrimination.

Responses to mental health stigma questions: the importance of social desirability and data collection method.

Objective: To evaluate the impact on the general public of Englands Time to Change program to reduce mental health-related stigma and discrimination using newly developed measures of knowledge and intended behaviour regarding people with mental health problems, and an established attitudes scale, and to investigate whether social desirability affects responses to the new measures and test whether this varies according to data collection method. Method: The Mental Health Knowledge Schedule (MAKS) and Reported and Intended Behaviour Scale (RIBS) were administered together with the 13-item version of the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale to 2 samples (each n = 196) drawn from the Time to Change mass media campaign target group; one group was interviewed face to face, while the other completed the measures as an online survey. Results: After controlling for other covariates, interaction terms between collection method and social desirability were positive for each instrument. The social desirability score was associated with the RIBS score in the face-to-face group only (β = 0.35, 95% CI 0.14 to 0.57), but not with the MAKS score in either group; however, MAKS scores were more likely to be positive when data were collected face to face (β = 1.53, 95% CI 0.74 to 2.32). Conclusions: Behavioural intentions toward people with mental health problems may be better assessed using online self-complete methods than in-person interviews. The effect of face-to-face interviewing on knowledge requires further investigation.

Antenatal domestic violence, maternal mental health and subsequent child behaviour: a cohort study

Please cite this paper as: Flach C, Leese M, Heron J, Evans J, Feder G, Sharp D, Howard L. Antenatal domestic violence, maternal mental health and subsequent child behaviour: a cohort study. BJOG 2011;118:1383–1391.

Predictive Value of Callous-Unemotional Traits in a Large Community Sample

OBJECTIVE Callous-unemotional (CU) traits in children and adolescents are increasingly recognized as a distinctive dimension of prognostic importance in clinical samples. Nevertheless, comparatively little is known about the longitudinal effects of these personality traits on the mental health of young people from the general population. Using a large representative sample of children and adolescents living in Great Britain, we set out to examine the effects of CU traits on a range of mental health outcomes measured 3 years after the initial assessment. METHOD Parents were interviewed to determine the presence of CU traits in a representative sample of 7,636 children and adolescents. The parents also completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, a broad measure of childhood psychopathology. Three years later, parents repeated the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. RESULTS At 3-year follow-up, CU traits were associated with conduct, hyperactivity, emotional, and total symptom scores. After adjusting for the effects of all covariates, including baseline symptom score, CU traits remained robustly associated with the overall levels of conduct problems and emotional problems and with total psychiatric difficulties at 3-year follow-up. CONCLUSIONS Callous-unemotional traits are independently associated with future psychiatric difficulties in children and adolescents. An assessment of CU traits adds small but significant improvements to the prediction of future psychopathology.

Mass social contact interventions and their effect on mental health related stigma and intended discrimination

BackgroundStigma and discrimination associated with mental health problems is an important public health issue, and interventions aimed at reducing exposure to stigma and discrimination can improve the lives of people with mental health problems. Social contact has long been considered to be one of the most effective strategies for improving inter-group relations. For this study, we assess the impact of a population level social contact intervention among people with and without mental health problems.MethodsThis study investigated the impact of social contact and whether presence of specific facilitating factors (equal status, common goals, cooperation and friendship potential): (1) improves intended stigmatising behaviour; (2) increases future willingness to disclose a mental health problem; and (3) promotes behaviours associated with anti-stigma campaign engagement. Two mass participation social contact programmes within England’s Time to Change campaign were evaluated via a 2-part questionnaire. 403 participants completed initial questionnaires (70% paper, 30% online) and 83 completed follow-up questionnaires online 4–6 weeks later.ResultsThis study investigated the impact of social contact and whether presence of specific facilitating factors (equal status, common goals, cooperation and friendship potential): (1) improves intended stigmatising behaviour; (2) increases future willingness to disclose a mental health problem; and (3) promotes behaviours associated with anti-stigma campaign engagement. Two mass participation social contact programmes within England’s Time to Change campaign were evaluated via a 2-part questionnaire. 403 participants completed initial questionnaires (70% paper, 30% online) and 83 completed follow-up questionnaires online 4–6 weeks later. Campaign events facilitated meaningful intergroup social contact between individuals with and without mental health problems. Presence of facilitating conditions predicted improved stigma-related behavioural intentions and subsequent campaign engagement 4–6 weeks following social contact. Contact, however, was not predictive of future willingness to disclose mental health problems.ConclusionsFindings emphasise the importance of facilitating conditions to promote positive social contact between individuals and also suggest that social contact interventions can work on a mass level. Future research should investigate this type of large scale intervention among broader and more representative populations.

Impact of cognitive therapy on internalised stigma in people with at-risk mental states

BACKGROUND Internalised stigma in young people meeting criteria for at-risk mental states (ARMS) has been highlighted as an important issue, and it has been suggested that provision of cognitive therapy may increase such stigma. AIMS To investigate the effects of cognitive therapy on internalised stigma using a secondary analysis of data from the EDIE-2 trial. METHOD Participants meeting criteria for ARMS were recruited as part of a multisite randomised controlled trial of cognitive therapy for prevention and amelioration of psychosis. Participants were assessed at baseline and at 6, 12, 18 and 24 months using measures of psychotic experiences, symptoms and internalised stigma. RESULTS Negative appraisals of experiences were significantly reduced in the group assigned to cognitive therapy (estimated difference at 12 months was -1.36 (95% CI -2.69 to -0.02), P = 0.047). There was no difference in social acceptability of experiences (estimated difference at 12 months was 0.46, 95% CI -0.05 to 0.98, P = 0.079). CONCLUSIONS These findings suggest that, rather than increasing internalised stigma, cognitive therapy decreases negative appraisals of unusual experiences in young people at risk of psychosis; as such, it is a non-stigmatising intervention for this population.