Mental health in subsidized housing: Readiness to assist residents with mental health issues in subsidized housing from the perspectives of housing employees

People in subsidized housing are likely to suffer from mental health issues. However, little is known about subsidized housing employees’ readiness to address the residents’ mental health needs. This qualitative study explores the perspectives of housing employees on their readiness to assist subsidized housing residents’ mental health needs. A total of 32 subsidized housing employees participated in five focus groups. Thematic analysis revealed four key themes: prevalence of mental health issues, unexpected role as housing employees, multi-level barriers in assisting residents with mental health needs, and the need for mental health support in subsidized housing. Findings highlight the need for integrated care, including social work services in subsidized housing. Social workers may have various potential roles to serve the mental health needs of subsidized housing residents. Also identified was the need for mental health education and training among subsidized housing employees.

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China’s mental health support in response to COVID-19: progression, challenges and reflection

Globalization and Health ◽

10.1186/s12992-020-00634-8 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 16 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Yumeng Ju ◽

Yan Zhang ◽

Xiaoping Wang ◽

Weihui Li ◽

Roger M. K. Ng ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Support System ◽

Large Scale ◽

Psychological Intervention ◽

Public Mental Health ◽

Health Needs ◽

Mental Health Needs ◽

Mental Health Support ◽

Health Support ◽

Proactive Measures

Abstract The continued spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has a serious impact on everyone across the globe, both physically and psychologically. In addition to proactive measures addressing physical survival needs and health protection, China has launched a mental health support system to cope with the widespread psychological stress during the pandemic and its aftermath. In this debate, the authors attempted to depict and reflect upon the overall framework of China’s mental health support, with particular reference to the psychological intervention in response to COVID-19 over the last few months. Although a lot of effort has been made to meet the mental health needs, the accessibility, acceptability and effectiveness of the support system still have much room for improvement. Therefore, it is very important to re-think the predicament and challenge on ways of enhancing public mental health emergency responses in China. The concepts of universality, timeliness and scientific rigour were proposed as a possible reform in preparation for large-scale natural or man-made disasters in the coming future.

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Understanding Campus Culture and Student Coping Strategies for Mental Health Issues in Five Canadian Colleges and Universities

Canadian Journal of Higher Education ◽

10.7202/1043242ar ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 47 (3) ◽

pp. 136-151 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Dimitris Giamos ◽

Alex Young Soo Lee ◽

Amanda Suleiman ◽

Heather Stuart ◽

Shu-Ping Chen

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Mental Health Services ◽

Health Services ◽

Coping Strategies ◽

Health Needs ◽

Campus Culture ◽

Health Issues ◽

Mental Health Needs ◽

Student Mental Health ◽

Mental Health Issues

This study aimed to better understand campus mental health culture and student mental health coping strategies, and to identify the mental health needs of students as well as gaps in mental health services within postsecondary education. A videovoice method was used to identify and document health-related issues and advocate for change. Forty-one interviews were conducted with campus stakeholders at five universities. Five themes involving mental health emerged from the campus interviews: the stigma of mental illness; campus culture related to mental health; mental health services available and barriers to mental health services on campus; accommodations for students’ mental health needs; and student mental health coping strategies. A documentary was developed to advocate for better mental health. We conclude that although Canadian campuses are raising awareness about mental health issues, there is not enough mental health infrastructure support on campuses; in particular, accessibility to campus mental health resources needs improvement.

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The men’s wellbeing project: promoting the well-being and mental health of men

Journal of Public Mental Health ◽

10.1108/jpmh-03-2020-0014 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 19 (2) ◽

pp. 179-189

Author(s):

Gabriel Abotsie ◽

Roger Kingerlee ◽

Andrew Fisk ◽

Sam Watts ◽

Rachel Cooke ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Health Care ◽

Well Being ◽

Health Needs ◽

Physical And Mental Health ◽

Mental Health Needs ◽

Content Type ◽

Public Events ◽

Mental Health Support ◽

Health Support

Purpose Comparatively, men have poorer physical and mental health outcomes than women, with a significantly higher suicide rate. Contributory factors are thought to be social and biological, leading to reduced access to health-care services. The study aims to develop and implement community-based support to increase awareness of and access to men’s mental health support networks and groups. Design/methodology/approach The project involved three key work-packages discussed in this paper: raising awareness of men’s mental health needs in health care, educational and community settings; collaboration between National Health Services (NHS) and non-NHS health-care support organisations to build multi-sector partnership working; and developing a supported sports-based community intervention aimed at men living with mental health conditions. The acceptability and feasibility of these work-packages were pragmatically evaluated through mixed-methods surveys and qualitative content analysis. Findings Overall, both community events and sports groups successfully engaged men living with mental health problems. Organisations interested in men’s mental health are continuing to engage in a partnership initiative. Community events were well-attended and received positive feedback, particularly regarding the educative and real-life experiences approach promoted in the events. The sports intervention is feasible and well-accepted by participants, who described feeling supported with their physical and mental health needs, with increased mental well-being reported. Research limitations/implications The main limitations of this project are that the authors only evaluated a football group rather than all work areas. The project collected outcomes relating to participants’ demographics and qualitative reflections of participating in the football group along with a retrospective survey of perceived benefits, but the project did not undertake a pre- and post-comparison of well-being outcomes owing to low completion of these measures. Future work could focus on collecting more pre- and post-measures related to well-being, recovery and inclusion and compare these with men not involved in the football groups or public events. Practical implications This paper discusses the development and feasibility of setting up community-based men’s mental health support networks, involving public events, partnership working and targeted-sports interventions. All initiatives were well-received and successfully attended by men living with mental health conditions. Evaluation of the programme revealed the value placed on education about mental health and the role that community sports interventions may play in men’s mental health care. Social implications This project has demonstrated three different ways of supporting men’s mental health needs in the community. Community public events were held to raise awareness of men’s mental health needs and issues were well-attended and highlighted the need for health promotion and education in this area across all the communities. The men’s football group demonstrated the feasibility of moving mental health support out into a non-clinical and more community arena in a way that men engaged effectively. Finally, the creation of MensNet has bought together disparate multi-sector organisations successfully to lead public health mechanisms to support men’s mental health needs. Originality/value This paper describes a new multi-disciplined approach to supporting health-seeking challenges among men, in particular, how partnership working across NHS and non-NHS sectors can successfully support an identified public health need pragmatically using existing services and organisations.

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Structuring mental health support for frontline caregivers during COVID-19: lessons from organisational scholarship on unit-aligned support

BMJ Leader ◽

10.1136/leader-2020-000279 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 4 (3) ◽

pp. 124-127

Author(s):

Julia DiBenigno ◽

Michaela Kerrissey

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Health Personnel ◽

Health Needs ◽

Mental Health Needs ◽

Organisational Design ◽

The Us ◽

Mental Health Support ◽

Health Support ◽

Identity Conflicts ◽

Employee Mental Health

BackgroundAlthough the COVID-19 pandemic exposes frontline caregivers to severe prolonged stresses and trauma, there has been little clarity on how healthcare organisations can structure support to address these mental health needs. This article translates organisational scholarship on professionals working in organisations to elucidate why traditional approaches to supporting employee mental health, which often ask employees to seek assistance from centralised resources that separate mental health personnel from frontline units, may be insufficient under crisis conditions. We identify a critical but often overlooked aspect of employee mental health support: how frontline professionals respond to mental health services. In high-risk, high-pressure fields, frontline professionals may perceive mental health support as coming at the expense of urgent frontline work goals (ie, patient care) and as clashing with their central professional identities (ie, as expert, self-reliant ironmen/women).FindingsTo address these pervasive goal and identity conflicts in professional organisations, we translate the results of a multiyear research study examining the US Army’s efforts to transform its mental health support during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. We highlight parallels between providing support to frontline military units and frontline healthcare units during COVID-19 and surface implications for structuring mental health supports during a crisis. We describe how an intentional organisational design used by the US Army that assigned specific mental health personnel to frontline units helped to mitigate professional goal and identity conflicts by creating personalised relationships and contextualising mental health offerings.ConclusionAddressing frontline caregivers’ mental health needs is a vital part of health delivery organisations’ response to COVID-19, but without thoughtful organisational design, well-intentioned efforts may fall short. An approach that assigns individual mental health personnel to support specific frontline units may be particularly promising.

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Liaison and diversion services in South East London: Referral patterns over a 25-year period

Medico-Legal Journal ◽

10.1177/00258172211010558 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 002581722110105

Author(s):

Howard Ryland ◽

Andrew Forrester ◽

Tim Exworthy ◽

Shaun Gallagher ◽

Lynne Ramsay ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Mental Illness ◽

National Policy ◽

Health Needs ◽

Mental Health Issue ◽

Health Issues ◽

Mental Health Needs ◽

Mental Health Issues ◽

Set Up ◽

Court Liaison

Criminal justice liaison and diversion services identify people with mental health needs and ensure they receive appropriate support. We describe a 25-year period of one such service that deals with a population of 864,540 in South East London that was set up in 1991. We used data from three time periods. A diagnosis of a mental illness was recorded in 70.0–80.3% of court liaison and diversion referrals. The proportion receiving a hospital order declined from 15.4% in 1991/1992 to 1.1% in 2015/2016; 54/199 (27.1%) of referrals to the police liaison and diversion service were detained in hospital. Although the service is designed to support any individual with a mental health issue, these results suggest that it has dealt mainly with people who have severe mental illness. Further research is required to understand how best to benefit a wider range of people with mental health issues who attend the lower (Magistrates’) courts, and whether screening for mental disorders can be applied in liaison and diversion settings to aid the implementation of national policy. We also need to understand how disposal decisions are made, and which are most effective.

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Understanding the Role of Social Media–Based Mental Health Support Among College Students: Survey and Semistructured Interviews (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.24512 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Piper Vornholt ◽

Munmun De Choudhury

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

College Students ◽

Social Media ◽

Mental Illness ◽

Health Needs ◽

Mental Health Needs ◽

Semistructured Interviews ◽

Social Media Platforms ◽

Mental Health Support ◽

Health Support

BACKGROUND Mental illness is a growing concern within many college campuses. Limited access to therapy resources, along with the fear of stigma, often prevents students from seeking help. Introducing supportive interventions, coping strategies, and mitigation programs might decrease the negative effects of mental illness among college students. OBJECTIVE Many college students find social support for a variety of needs through social media platforms. With the pervasive adoption of social media sites in college populations, in this study, we examine whether and how these platforms may help meet college students’ mental health needs. METHODS We first conducted a survey among 101 students, followed by semistructured interviews (n=11), of a large public university in the southeast region of the United States to understand whether, to what extent, and how students appropriate social media platforms to suit their struggle with mental health concerns. The interviews were intended to provide comprehensive information on students’ attitudes and their perceived benefits and limitations of social media as platforms for mental health support. RESULTS Our survey revealed that a large number of participating students (71/101, 70.3%) had recently experienced some form of stress, anxiety, or other mental health challenges related to college life. Half of them (52/101, 51.5%) also reported having appropriated some social media platforms for self-disclosure or help, indicating the pervasiveness of this practice. Through our interviews, we obtained deeper insights into these initial observations. We identified specific academic, personal, and social life stressors; motivations behind social media use for mental health needs; and specific platform affordances that helped or hindered this use. CONCLUSIONS Students recognized the benefits of social media in helping connect with peers on campus and promoting informal and candid disclosures. However, they argued against complete anonymity in platforms for mental health help and advocated the need for privacy and boundary regulation mechanisms in social media platforms supporting this use. Our findings bear implications for informing campus counseling efforts and in designing social media–based mental health support tools for college students.

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Mental health screening of fathers attending early parenting services in Australia

Journal of Child Health Care ◽

10.1177/1367493517732166 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 21 (4) ◽

pp. 498-508 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Richard Fletcher ◽

Eileen Dowse ◽

Jennifer St George ◽

Tara Payling

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Well Being ◽

Health Condition ◽

Professional Staff ◽

Health Needs ◽

Health Issues ◽

Mental Health Needs ◽

Screening Guidelines ◽

Early Parenting ◽

Mental Health Issues

Paternal perinatal depression and anxiety is a common, though under-recognized mental health condition experienced by men during their transition to fatherhood. An opportunity to screen for paternal mental health issues occurs when parents present for assistance with the care of their baby at early parenting services (EPSs). There are 10 EPSs located across Australia that provide specialist, multidisciplinary interventions to support parents experiencing complex parenting difficulties. Using structured telephone interviews, this qualitative study explored the views of 18 professional staff from nine EPSs regarding screening, referral processes and acceptability of screening fathers for mental health issues. A thematic analysis revealed that most EPSs screened fathers for depression. Participants agreed screening was important and that routine approaches to screening would help normalize the process for both men and services. Despite this, no uniform, comprehensive approach to identifying the mental health needs of fathers was found. EPSs provide a unique opportunity to address the mental health needs of fathers. Results from this study point to the need for a national approach to the development of father-specific screening guidelines for EPSs to improve family well-being, in parallel to those informing the Australian National Perinatal Mental Health Initiative for mothers.

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Abstract WP432: Stroke Survivor and Informal Caregiver Involvement to Address Mental Health in Stroke Recovery

Stroke ◽

10.1161/str.51.suppl_1.wp432 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 51 (Suppl_1) ◽

Author(s):

Jennifer E Beauchamp ◽

Tahani Casameni Montiel ◽

Tina Varughese ◽

Sean Savitz ◽

Anjail Sharrief ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Informal Caregiver ◽

Stroke Survivor ◽

Community Dwelling ◽

Health Needs ◽

Stroke Recovery ◽

Health Issues ◽

Mental Health Needs ◽

Patient Centered ◽

Mental Health Issues

Background and Purpose: Stroke survivor (SS) and informal caregiver ([IC]; e.g., unpaid spouse) mental well-being are connected with symptoms of psychosocial distress negatively affecting both. The purpose of this study was to implement the principles of patient-centered measurement by working with a team of SS, IC, and researchers to explore what mental health needs matter to a cohort of SS and IC. Methods: An 18-question mental health survey was created with input from 2 SS, 2 IC, and experts in neurology and nursing and distributed to community-dwelling SS (n=26) and IC (n=14). Subsequently, two semi-structured group interviews were conducted. Interviews were stratified by role (n=7 SS and n=3 IC) to attain homogeneity in order to encourage open dialogue. Results: Among 40 SS and IC, 65% were SS and 35% were IC with a mean age of 62 years. Overall, frustration (69%), stress (64%), worry (47%), anxiety (42%), and depression (31%) were the predominant mental health needs identified among both groups. Both SS (46%) and IC (46%) equally reported intolerant or close-minded cultural backgrounds to mental health issues. The majority of SS and IC identified peer-support and support groups as essential aspects when addressing mental health support during the stroke recovery period. Conclusions: This survey identified a number of mental health issues that matter to SS and IC. Our results raise the need to focus on interventions that will address patient-centered mental health outcome measurements that reflect what matters to the SS and IC and incorporate these patient and caregiver centered outcomes in stroke recovery clinical trials.

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