The Social Dynamics of Responding to Mental Health Problems

2012 ◽  
pp. 505-524 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernice A. Pescosolido ◽  
Carol A. Boyer ◽  
Tait R. Medina
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Health Problems ◽  
The Social

Comparing the social networks of service users with long term mental health needs living in community with those in a general adult in-patient unit

2021 ◽  
pp. 002076402110175
Author(s):  
Roberto Rusca ◽  
Ike-Foster Onwuchekwa ◽  
Catherine Kinane ◽  
Douglas MacInnes
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Patient Group ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Health Problems ◽  
Practical Support ◽  
The Social

Background: Relationships are vital to recovery however, there is uncertainty whether users have different types of social networks in different mental health settings and how these networks may impact on users’ wellbeing. Aims: To compare the social networks of people with long-term mental illness in the community with those of people in a general adult in-patient unit. Method: A sample of general adult in-patients with enduring mental health problems, aged between 18 and 65, was compared with a similar sample attending a general adult psychiatric clinic. A cross-sectional survey collected demographic data and information about participants’ social networks. Participants also completed the Short Warwick Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale to examine well-being and the Significant Others Scale to explore their social network support. Results: The study recruited 53 participants (25 living in the community and 28 current in-patients) with 339 named as important members of their social networks. Both groups recorded low numbers in their social networks though the community sample had a significantly greater number of social contacts (7.4 vs. 5.4), more monthly contacts with members of their network and significantly higher levels of social media use. The in-patient group reported greater levels of emotional and practical support from their network. Conclusions: People with serious and enduring mental health problems living in the community had a significantly greater number of people in their social network than those who were in-patients while the in-patient group reported greater levels of emotional and practical support from their network. Recommendations for future work have been made.

Do Prostitution and Social Vulnerability Go Hand in Hand? Examining the Association Between Social Background and Prostitution Using Register Data

2020 ◽  
pp. 136078042096598
Author(s):  
Theresa Dyrvig Henriksen
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Vulnerability ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Strong Association ◽  
Social Background ◽  
Health Problems ◽  
Register Data ◽  
Childhood Environment ◽  
The Social ◽  
Drug Problems

This article provides new knowledge on the social background of women involved in indoor prostitution by integrating a novel data source in terms of administrative register data. Questions concerning dynamics of entry and whether sex-sellers have a more socially marginalised position than others have long been debated in research. Based on register data on 1128 female sex-sellers, the article takes an important step towards answering such questions by analysing and comparing the social background of sex-sellers and of a matched sample of Danish women (n = 73,320). The study includes descriptive insights into a number of indicators, including demographics, out-of-home placement, mental health problems, drug problems, incarceration, educational attainment and labour market attachment. Multivariate regression models are used to examine potential predictors of involvement in prostitution. The findings show that indoor sex-sellers often come from a socially marginalised background and experience multiple social vulnerabilities in both childhood and adulthood. Furthermore, the study shows strong associations between indicators of social vulnerability and selling sex. Especially indicators of an unstable childhood environment (e.g. out-of-home placements and mothers’ incarceration) and indicators of social marginalisation in adulthood (e.g. incarceration and mental health problems) have proven to have a strong association with involvement in prostitution as an adult.

scholarly journals The social gradient in adolescent mental health: mediated or moderated by belief in a just world?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dom Weinberg ◽  
gonneke stevens ◽  
Margot Peeters ◽  
Kirsten Visser ◽  
Jet Tigchelaar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Adolescent Mental Health ◽  
Health Problems ◽  
Social Gradient ◽  
Just World ◽  
Emotional Symptoms ◽  
Peer Problems ◽  
Family Wealth ◽  
The Social

Purpose. A social gradient in adolescent mental health exists: adolescents with higher so-cioeconomic status (SES) have fewer mental health problems than their peers with lower SES. Little is known about whether adolescents’ societal beliefs play a role in this social gradient. Belief in a just world (BJW) may be a mediator or moderator of the social gradient in adolescent mental health.Methods. Using data from 1,130 adolescents (Mage = 17) in the Netherlands, path analyses examined whether two indicators of BJW (general and personal) mediated or moderated the associations between two indicators of SES (family affluence and perceived family wealth), and four indicators of adolescent mental health problems (emotional symptoms, conduct problems, hyperactivity and peer problems).Results. Adolescents with lower perceived family wealth reported more emotional symp-toms and peer problems, and these associations were partly mediated by lower personal and general BJW. Furthermore, higher personal BJW amplified the negative association be-tween SES and peer problems.Conclusion. This study suggests BJW may both mediate and amplify the social gradient in adolescent mental health. Adolescents’ beliefs about society may be important to include in research aimed at understanding this social gradient.

Experiences of university students living with mental health problems: Interrelations between the self, the social, and the school

Work ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 325-335 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bonnie Kirsh ◽  
Judith Friedland ◽  
Sunny Cho ◽  
Nisha Gopalasuntharanathan ◽  
Shauna Orfus ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
University Students ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Health Problems ◽  
The Self ◽  
The Social

scholarly journals Psykisk ohälsa, utsatthet och en legitimerande oro – diskursiva förståelser av flickor som placeras vid särskilda ungdomshem

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Andersson Vogel
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Health Problems ◽  
The Other ◽  
Discourse Theory ◽  
Legal Systems ◽  
Secure Care ◽  
The Social

State-run secure accommodation has a double public function, which places it in the borderland between welfare and legal systems. However, girls in these facilities seldom show criminal beha- viour but often report severe mental health problems. Given this, it has been questioned whether this form of care is suitable for these girls. This article aims to investigate discourses about girls and secure care as they are manifested in interviews with social workers. The interviews are analysed as conversations, and therefore feature the researcher in the material. The analysis is inspired by Laclau and Mouffe’s Discourse Theory. The results show that a gendered dichotomy dominates the discourse about girls in contact with social services. Girls are constructed, in relation to boys, by concepts of mental health and vulnerability. This discourse is somewhat destabilized by the suburban girl who simultaneously is given meaning by discourses about the suburbs and their inhabitants as ”the Others”. Further, there seems to be a discursive battle concerning girls placed in secure care, who are constructed both as vulnerable girls and as antisocial in terms that tie them to the constructions of boys. Central to this battle is the social workers’ great concern over the girls’ actions and their consequences. The secure accommodation is discursively constructed on one hand as an institution imbued with meaning of being a horrible place, and on the other hand as a function with the possibility to stop, hold and protect. By emphasizing the connection between the social workers’ concern and the secure accommodation as a holding and protecting function, referring a girl discursively constructed as a vulnerable victim to this locked and discipli- ning form of care is legitimized.

scholarly journals The social capitals of recovery in mental health

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 384-402
Author(s):  
Brian Brown ◽  
Sally Baker
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Capital ◽  
Social Engagement ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
Health Problems ◽  
Professional Attitudes ◽  
Attitudes And Practices ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Capitals

In this article, we examine the process of recovery in people who have undertaken treatment for mental health problems, based on interviews with 34 participants. We describe their experiences through the lens of social capital, focusing on the social networks and relationships within which they are embedded and which they utilise to give purpose and meaning to their lives. The accounts give sense of movement from relationships, institutions and networks which were provided through their engagement with services towards relationships outside the health care system which were more freely chosen and which provided a sense that they were able to achieve recognition and make a contribution. The latter included activities such as art, theatre and sport. The relationships and institutions with which they were engaged via the statutory services were described as burdensome and inappropriate, whereas those which were freely chosen appeared more emancipatory and positively constitutive of identity. We have called this latter experience one of ‘intentional social capital’ because the participants were deliberately choosing and orienting to these networks and were able to derive pleasure and a sense of self from them. The findings have implications for how we see the situation of people recovering from mental health problems inasmuch as professional attitudes and practices could usefully be extended to more fully recognise and encourage wider patterns of social engagement and fulfilment occurring outside the limited contribution of clinical definitions and clinical interventions.

Attitude and behaviour change – it takes a generation

2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 207-214
Author(s):  
Naomi Russell ◽  
Jennifer Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Young People ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Health Problems ◽  
Mental Health Stigma ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Stigma And Discrimination ◽  
The Social ◽  
Insight Into

Purpose – 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. Design/methodology/approach – 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. Findings – 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. Originality/value – 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.

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