Wednesday 9 March 2016

Beliefs and attitudes towards mental illness


Title of publication

Beliefs and attitudes towards mental illness: An examination of the sex differences in mental health literacy in a community sample

Abstract 

Objectives. The current study investigated mental health literacy in an Australian sample to examine sex differences in the identification of and attitudes towards various aspects of mental illness. Method. An online questionnaire was completed by 373 participants (M = 34.87 years). Participants were randomly assigned either a male or female version of a vignette depicting an individual exhibiting the symptoms of one of three types of mental illness (depression, anxiety, or psychosis) and asked to answer questions relating to aspects of mental health literacy. Results. Males exhibited poorer mental health literacy skills compared to females. Males were less likely to correctly identify the type of mental illness, more likely to rate symptoms as less serious, to perceive the individual as having greater personal control over such symptoms, and less likely to endorse the need for treatment for anxiety or psychosis. Conclusion. Generally, the sample was relatively proficient at correctly identifying mental illness but overall males displayed poorer mental health literacy skills than females.


Cite


Gibbons, R. J., Thorsteinsson, E. B., & Loi, N. M. (2015). Beliefs and attitudes towards mental illness: An examination of the sex differences in mental health literacy in a community sample. PeerJ, 3, e1004. doi:10.7717/peerj.1004

Link 

https://peerj.com/articles/1004/?td=bl


About the Vignettes used in the article

Participants received the "lead in text" below and one of the vignettes (obviously without the vignette caption) based on random assignment. All vignettes had male (i.e., John) and female (i.e., Jane) versions, also based on random assignment.

Lead in text
The following story describes an individual experiencing a variety of difficulties regarding various aspects of his or her life. Please read the short story and answer the questions about the story that follow

Depression Vignette
John (Jane) is 30 years old. He (she) has been feeling unusually sad and miserable for the last few weeks. Even though he (she) is tired all of the time, he (she) has trouble sleeping nearly every night. John (Jane) doesn’t feel like eating and has lost weight. He (she) can’t keep his (her) mind on his (her) work and puts off making any decisions.  Even day-to-day tasks seem too much for him (her). This has come to the attention of John’s (Jane’s) boss who is concerned about the lowered productivity.

Anxiety Vignette
John (Jane) is 30 years old. For the past 6 months he (she) has found himself (herself) feeling uneasy and worrying frequently. He (she) reports feeling worried on most days, often about trivial matters. He (she) says that although he (she) doesn’t like worrying, he (she) can’t seem to help himself (herself). Lately he (she) has noticed that he (she) has been feeling tense and on edge. He (she) has also been having trouble getting to sleep and staying asleep. Furthermore, he (she) has been having trouble concentrating at work and has recently received numerous warnings for making mistakes. John (Jane) has never smoked cigarettes or taken drugs, and only drinks on rare occasions.

Psychosis Vignette
John (Jane) is 30 years old and lives at home with his (her) parents. He (she) has had a few temporary jobs since finishing school but is now unemployed. Over the last 6 months he (she) has stopped seeing his (her) friends and has begun locking himself (herself) in his (her) bedroom and refusing to eat with the family or to have a bath. His (her) parents also hear him (her) walking about his (her) bedroom at night while they are in bed. Even though they know he (she) is alone, they have heard him (her) shouting and arguing as if someone else is there. When they try to encourage him (her) to do more things, he (she) whispers that he (she) won’t leave home because he (she) is being spied upon by the neighbour. They realise that he (she) is not taking drugs because he (she) never sees anyone or goes anywhere.

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