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Biological understandings of mental illness are promoted by both anti-stigma campaigners and increasingly by activists protesting against social security cuts. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the pitfalls of the “illness” conceptualisation for reducing discrimination, comments on divisions between those arguing for a right to work and those who seek a right not to work, and proposes bridge building and more effective messages, drawing on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Review of relevant evidence on the effectiveness or lack of it of the “mental illness is an illness like any other” message in anti-stigma work, and discussion of grey literature from campaigners and bloggers.

There is a growing body of evidence that the “illness like any other” message entrenches rather than reduces stigma and discrimination: this message should not be used in anti-discrimination work. At the same time some social security bloggers and campaigners have argued they are “sick” in order to resist efforts to compel them to seek work or face sanctions; whilst older disability rights campaigners have argued for the right to work. The paper argues for new bridge building and use of evidence based messages in campaigning.

This paper is based on review of evidence on the impact of using the “illness” message to reduce stigma and discrimination; and on discussion of campaigns and blogs. It is not based on a systematic review of campaigns.

There is a need for campaigns that support rights holistically – the right to a decent standard of living and the right to work. This requires bridge building between activists, which could usefully be rooted in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The “illness” conceptualisation is harmful to the effort to reduce stigma and discrimination. Mental health staff can act as allies to those they serve in securing all these rights.

This is the only recent paper to analyse the evidence that the “illness like any other” message is harmful in anti-stigma work, together with its implications for the recent phenomenon of mental health campaigners moving from opposition to the medical model, to a new argument that they are “too sick” to work. This paper suggests ways forward for everyone with an interest in combatting stigma and discrimination.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the work of the Children and Young People's Programme of Time to Change, which is England's biggest campaign to end the stigma and discrimination that surrounds mental health.

The paper draws upon research into the nature and effects of mental health stigma and discrimination on young people and also outlines the strategy of the Time to Change campaign and its initial outcomes.

The paper includes testimonies from young people with lived experience of mental health problems about the stigma and discrimination they have faced. It also outlines the aims, objectives and stages of implementation of the Time to Change Children and Young People's Programme. The paper particularly focuses on the campaign work undertaken in secondary schools, the social leadership programme for young people with lived experience of mental health problems and the process of designing effective campaign messaging for social media.

Time to Change is England's biggest campaign to end the stigma and discrimination that surrounds mental health. This paper provides a unique insight into the process of developing and rolling out an anti-stigma campaign for young people.

Although we know that stigma is associated with having either a diagnosis of mental illness or a substance abuse disorder, evidence about whether stigma and discrimination are experienced differently, or at higher levels, for people with co‐occurring mental illness and substance abuse is unclear. Given the high prevalence of co‐occurring disorders and the high levels of need among people with co‐occurring disorders, understanding the varying levels of stigma and barriers to care encountered by this group is important for healthcare practitioners.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the findings from a detailed qualitative PhD study exploring experiences of stigma and discrimination in the lives of people in receipt of “mental health support” at two voluntary sector organisations in the North East of England.

Empirical material was collected during two periods of three-month long ethnographic periods of fieldwork from July to December of 2013 at two organisations providing support to their members who experience or have experienced mental distress. Along with field notes taken during and after periods of participant observation, the empirical material also included 30 interviews with staff (n=10) and members (n=20) across both organisations, along with a series of three focus groups at each organisation.

Staff at the organisations did not demonstrate obvious stigmatising or discriminatory attitudes or behaviours. However, they did attribute “self-stigma” to particular attitudes and behaviours of some of the members they support, referring to how they “made excuses”, “did not try” and/or “avoided situations”.

This paper argues that these attributions resulted from the misrecognition of members’ reactions to experiences of discrimination. The empirical material also suggests that these attributions of self-stigma may be indicative of the material limitations of the support environment, the consequent frustrations of well-intentioned staff, and, overall, as symptoms of neoliberalism. Drawing upon a Mad Studies approach and focussing on self-stigma and its attribution in contemporary mental health support, this paper provides a new perspective, which considers how stigma is linked to discrimination by rethinking what is thought of as “self-stigma”.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the processes associated with divorced female employees' experiences at workplaces in the context of a developing country, Pakistan. Specifically, this study analyzes divorced women's narratives to better understand the nature of discrimination, its outcomes and their coping strategies within the workplace environment.

A qualitative methodology consisting of 25 semistructured interviews with women employees having divorce status was adopted.

Findings demonstrate that divorced women experience a considerable amount of discrimination at their workplace from colleagues (victimized through gossiping). Moreover, they are also offered less training opportunities. This discrimination not only increases turnover intentions and stress but also decreases cognitive performance and disturbs work–life balance. The major coping strategies identified in the research include avoiding the situation and/or concealing their identity.

First, this study undertakes an in-depth examination of experiences and consequences of stigma amongst female individuals with divorced identity from an understudied, yet highly relevant, context of Pakistan. In so doing, the authors respond to the call for more research that examines the role of context in shaping the psychological process. Second, contextualizing the concepts of discrimination and inclusion in the workplace setting, this work gives voice to females with divorce identity. Lastly, by examining the interaction between visible and invisible identities, the authors provide further evidence that individuals with multiple subordinate identities are more prone to greater stigma and other negative consequences.

This paper aims to examine the management strategies adopted by older people living with HIV/AIDS (PHAs) to conceal their positive status in healthcare settings, and their responses taken and means used to cope with the stigmatizing and exclusionary effects as a result of the disclosure of their status by/to healthcare workers.

Under the auspices of a local NGO in Hong Kong, a total of seven male older PHAs aged 55 or above from pre‐existing HIV/AIDS self‐help groups were recruited for two separate focus groups. A thematic approach was adopted for data analysis and specific themes identification.

An analysis of the data revealed that older PHAs did exercise their own agency in preventing against and managing stigma in their access to and use of health care services. Two more specific themes around “sign of disapproval” and “discriminatory practice” as barriers to access were also identified.

Because of the small sample size, the pattern of stigmatization experiences and coping strategies cannot claim to be representative of the complete picture of the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS.

This is the first exploratory study of the stigmatization and devaluation suffered by older PHAs in healthcare settings in the context of Hong Kong. It also explored in details the pros and cons of the stigma management strategies employed by this vulnerable group of patients. The implications for practice both on the side of healthcare workers and policy makers and that of PHAs were discussed.

Postgraduate researchers (PGRs) appear to be particularly vulnerable to mental health problems. Mental health-related stigma and discrimination may be endemic within universities, creating a threatening environment that undermines PGRs’ health and well-being. These environmental characteristics may increase PGRs’ absenteeism and presenteeism, attendance behaviours that have great personal and institutional consequences. The study of this issue, however, has been limited to date.

This was a mixed methods psychological study using cross-sectional data provided by 3,352 UK-based PGRs. Data were collected in a new national survey (U-DOC) led by a British University in 2018–2019. We used structural equation modelling techniques to test associations between workplace mental health-related stigma and discrimination, presenteeism, absenteeism and demographic characteristics. The authors analysed qualitative survey data with framework analysis to deductively and inductively explore associations between workplace culture, stigma and discrimination, and attendance behaviours.

The authors found that some PGRs report positive perceptions and experiences of the academic mental health-related workplace culture. However, experiences of mental health stigma and discrimination appear widespread. Both quantitative and qualitative results show that experiences of mental health-related stigma are associated with greater absenteeism and presenteeism. People with mental health problems appear especially vulnerable to experiencing stigma and its impacts.

Key implications include recommendations for universities to improve support for PGR mental health, and to encourage taking annual leave and necessary sickness absences, by providing a more inclusive environment with enhanced mental health service provision and training for faculty and administrative staff.

This study presents the first large-scale survey of PGR experiences of mental health-related stigma and discrimination, and their associations with absenteeism and presenteeism.

The label of schizophrenia attracts a high level of stigma; consequently, people with schizophrenia are victims of unfair treatment and have limited access to decent livelihood and basic opportunities. However, most studies on stigma have overlooked the experiences of patients with schizophrenia. The purpose of this paper is to assess the experience of discrimination by patients with schizophrenia in Lagos, Nigeria.

A descriptive cross-sectional study. Out-patients with schizophrenia (n=150) were interviewed with the Discrimination and Stigma Scale (DISC 12) at the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Yaba, Lagos, Nigeria.

The majority of the respondents (86.7 per cent) had been avoided by people who knew they had schizophrenia. Unfair treatment was experienced by 71.3 per cent from family members, 62.7 per cent from friends, 32 per cent in social life and 28.7 per cent in intimate relationships, and 38.7 per cent in personal safety. The most commonly reported unfair treatment was inappropriate physical restraint (e.g. chains and ropes) applied by family members and beating. About eight out of ten (79.3 per cent) respondents concealed their illness.

The findings indicate that people with schizophrenia in Nigeria experience high levels of discrimination, some of which contravenes their basic human rights. The unfair treatment experienced within the family context excludes people with schizophrenia from engaging in basic social relationships, education and the pursuit of life opportunities. Legislations should be reviewed to protect patients from unfair treatment and violation of their human rights. There is also need to equip them with strategies to cope with stigma.

The purpose of the paper is to discuss and seek a better understanding of the stigmatization of unemployed workers who have been laid off.

This is a conceptual paper which addresses the factors that affect stigmatization and resulting discrimination against laid‐off individuals such as minority status, age, labor markets, job level, and length of unemployment. Issues of categorization and stereotyping of laid‐off workers are explored.

The increased use of layoffs by organizations has created a large class of unemployed workers who, rather than being seen as victims, are perceived to be deficient in their skills and abilities. This stigmatization is seen as more detrimental to laid‐off minorities and older workers as well as those who have been unemployed for long periods of time. The amount of discrimination is likely to be affected by the job market and level of job.

Propositions are developed to examine the factors affecting the stigma as well as moderators affecting the relationship between the unemployment stigma and discrimination.

Organizations should examine their HR policies and practices regarding the unemployed seeking jobs. Discrimination against the unemployed may result in long‐term unemployment that may have enormous human costs.

This paper highlights the ways in which being laid off now stigmatizes an individual and may significantly limit his/her ability to secure future employment. Since there are no legal restrictions on discriminating against the unemployed, organizations may systematically screen out applicants who are not currently employed.

The authors sought initial validity evidence for a measure of anticipated discrimination in the workplace using three samples of working adults with various chronic illnesses. The purpose of this paper is to propose a single factor structure, correlations with stigma dimensions, discriminant validity from similar scales, and incremental validity in predicting work-related outcomes.

Adults working at least 20 hours per week with various chronic illnesses (Sample 1 n=332, Sample 2 n=193, Sample 3 n=230) voluntarily completed an online survey. Structural equation modeling and hierarchical multiple regression were used to analyze the data.

Results supported the proposed single-factor structure, along with proposed correlations with strain, and job attitudes (job satisfaction, affective commitment, and both procedural justice). Discriminant validity was observed between anticipated discrimination and procedural justice perceptions and perceived impact on performance. The scale demonstrated incremental validity in predicting strain beyond the relevant controls in all three samples, although it only demonstrated incremental validity in predicting job satisfaction in Samples 1 and 3 and affective commitment in Sample 1.

Study limitations include the use of single-source, cross-sectional data, omission of a non-stigmatized sample, and a deductive approach to item generation. Future research should attempt to validate the scale on other stigmatized worker populations.

Organizations may use this scale to monitor employees’ perceptions of anticipated discrimination and researchers may use it as a measure of a workplace stressor.

The vast majority of existing stigma and discrimination scales do not specifically address the workplace context. This study contributes to the literature by providing psychometric information for a workplace anticipated discrimination scale using samples from an under-represented worker population.