People with mental illnesses (PWMI) who are of color and/or lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) experience mental health disparities, including within mental health treatment programs (MHTPs). Informed ...by a critical framework with attention to intersectionality and microaggressions, this qualitative study asked 20 PWMI and family members who also are of color and/or LGB whether they had experienced mental illness discrimination in MHTPs, a possible factor in disparities. We also asked participants about aspects of MHTPs that supported recovery. Participants reported that they were ignored/not listened to, not viewed as complex individuals, experienced condescension/lack of respect and violations of privacy or other rights, and were presumed to lack intelligence. In addition, identifying mental illness discrimination was complex due to intersections of identities. Despite these perceptions of discrimination, participants described supportive aspects of MHTPs. Implications for practice and research are offered.
Increasing numbers of women are found in the military, and they are now performing roles very similar to those of male service members. More returning servicewomen and veterans have been exposed to ...stressful and traumatic experiences, such as combat and difficult living circumstances, and military sexual trauma is common. These experiences have been found to be associated with adverse mental health outcomes, posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and substance abuse in particular. Comorbidity rates are also high. In addition, more veterans are returning with injuries, including traumatic brain injuries. Although more women veterans of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom are seeking health services at Veterans Administration facilities, many are not. Thus, community-based social workers need to be familiar with the needs of this growing population to serve them effectively. Use of empirically supported assessment instruments and screening for military sexual trauma are recommended. Recommended interventions include the use of evidence-supported practices, such as cognitive—behavioral treatment, and offering assistance to enhance social support among women veterans.
Social Work Faculty and Mental Illness Stigma Watson, Amy C.; Fulambarker, Anjali; Kondrat, David C. ...
Journal of social work education,
04/2017, Letnik:
53, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Stigma is a significant barrier to recovery and full community inclusion for people with mental illnesses. Social work educators can play critical roles in addressing this stigma, yet little is known ...about their attitudes. Social work educators were surveyed about their general attitudes about people with mental illnesses, attitudes about practice with people with mental illnesses, and attitudes about students with mental illnesses. On average, educators' general and practice attitudes were not negative. However, respondents did view a student with a mental illness differently from a "typical social work student." Findings suggest that we, as social work educators, must raise our awareness and address our own attitudes to support students and uphold our social work values.
Efforts to address youth substance use have focused on prevention among non-users and treatment among severe users with less attention given to youth occupying the middle ground who have used ...substances but not yet progressed to serious abuse or addiction. Using a sample from 35 middle schools of 1,364 youth who reported using substances, this study examined the effectiveness of a universal youth substance use prevention program, the SAMHSA Model Program keepin' it REAL, in promoting reduced or recently discontinued alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use. Discrete-time event history methods modeled the rates of reduced and recently discontinued use across four waves of data. Each substance (alcohol, cigarettes, and marijuana) was modeled separately. Beginning at the second wave, participants who reported use at wave 1 were considered at risk of reducing or discontinuing use. Since the data sampled students in schools, multi-level models accounted for the nesting of data at the school level. Results indicated that prevention program participation influenced the rates of reduced and recently discontinued use only for alcohol, controlling for baseline use severity, age, grades, socioeconomic status, ethnicity and gender. Among youth who reported use of alcohol in wave 1 (N=1,028), the rate of reducing use for program participants was 72% higher than the rate for control students. The rate of discontinuing use was 66% higher than the rate for control students. Among youth who reported use of one or more of the three substances in wave 1 (N=1,364), the rate of discontinuing all use was 61% higher for program participants than for control students. Limitations and implications of these findings and plans for further research are discussed.
Many social workers practice in settings serving people with mental illnesses, but social work education in the United States has given minimal attention to helping students understand the systemic ...nature of prejudice and discrimination experienced by this population. Some courses address prejudice (stigma) toward people with mental illnesses, but a critical consideration of systemic oppression appears to be lacking. We explain how an oppression framework used to understand the systemic nature of racism, sexism, and other forms of oppression is useful in illuminating experiences related to (perceived) mental health status. We offer suggestions for incorporating content into courses that focus on diversity and oppression with the goal of preparing students to engage in antioppressive practice with people who have mental illnesses.
Conation is action derived from instinct, purposeful mode of striving, volition. It is a conscious effort to carry out self-determined acts and, as such, may result in the same goal being approached ...by different individuals through the use of different actions. It is a critical, yet neglected aspect of the “tripartite” human mind, which is composed of cognitive, affective, and conative elements. Because most social workers are not familiar with the concept, client behavior that represents action toward a goal might not be understood or might be misunderstood. A true strengths-based approach to social work requires this understanding. The authors use case studies to describe conation and to demonstrate its applicability. They present examples of how clients' and social workers' conative ability are important to the assessment and intervention process and describe implications for research.
Women are being deployed at increasing rates. This article reviews literature related to the risk and protective factors that explain varied levels of adaptation for servicewomen and their families. ...Implications suggest that clinicians assess risk factors for female soldiers upon return home such as the number and length of deployments, the presence of mental health challenges, physical injuries including traumatic brain injury, the experience of military sexual trauma, a history of childhood or adult sexual trauma, and the pile-up of additional life stressors that can lead to a cumulative negative effect for women and their families. Clinicians are also encouraged to assess and encourage family strengths that foster resilience such as social support, ongoing communication, family structure that is flexible, and positive appraisal.
Objective:
Stigma and discrimination against people with mental illnesses are serious problems that can lead to many negative effects. This study examined providers' awareness of consumers' daily ...lived experience of discrimination.
Method:
We surveyed 51 peer employees and 52 licensed clinicians to learn how they viewed the extent of public stigma and discrimination.
Results:
Clinicians, women, and those who had observed a friend with a mental illness treated unfairly perceived significantly higher levels of public discrimination than did their counterparts (adjusted
R
2
= .399,
p
< .001). Men's perceptions of public discrimination were more strongly affected by personal contact.
Conclusions and Implications for Practice:
Mental health providers are uniquely situated to help consumers deal with the effects of discrimination and should incorporate this issue into their clinical practice. Further research should examine the reasons for differences in perception and how these differences relate to provider behavior and consumer outcomes.
Informed by a structural theory of workplace discrimination, mental health system employees’ perceptions of mental health workplace stigma and discrimination against service recipients and peer ...employees were investigated. Fifty-one peer employees and 52 licensed behavioral health clinicians participated in an online survey. Independent variables were employee status (peer or clinician), gender, ethnicity, years of mental health employment, age, and workplace social inclusion of peer employees. Analysis of covariance on workplace discrimination against service recipients revealed that peer employees perceived more discrimination than clinicians and whites perceived more discrimination than employees of color (corrected model
F
= 9.743 16, 87,
P
= .000, partial
ŋ
2
= .644). Analysis of covariance on workplace discrimination against peer employees revealed that peer employees perceived more discrimination than clinicians (
F
= 4.593, 6, 97,
P
= .000, partial
ŋ
2
= .223).
Social workers are the major providers of mental health services in the United States, yet the profession has been reluctant to include recovering consumers in its ranks. This article contrasts ...social work's historic focus on the deficits believed to be inherent in colleagues' history of psychiatric disorder with an empowerment perspective. The article describes perceived risks and benefits to clients when the social worker has a history of a psychiatric disorder. It reviews recovering consumers' successful roles as paraprofessionals in mental health services delivery as a demonstration of the strengths consumers bring to the mental health field. Finally, it identifies barriers to social work employment faced by the social worker who has a history of a psychiatric disability.
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