Hostname: page-component-76d6cb85b7-rxvq6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-07-14T15:21:37.590Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Public knowledge, attitudes, social distance and reporting contact with people with mental illness 2009–2017

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 December 2018

Emily J. Robinson Open the ORCID record for Emily J. Robinson [Opens in a new window]  and
Claire Henderson
Emily J. Robinson*
Affiliation:
Biostatistics and Health Informatics Department, King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, London SE5 8AF, UK
Claire Henderson
Affiliation:
Health Service and Population Research Department, King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, London SE5 8AF, UK
*
Author for correspondence: Emily J. Robinson, E-mail: emily.robinson@kcl.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background

Our aim was to investigate patterns of change in public knowledge, attitudes, desire for social distance and reporting having contact with people with mental health problems in England during the Time to Change (TTC) programme to reduce stigma and discrimination 2009–2017.

Methods

Using data from an annual face-to-face survey of a nationally representative quota sample of adults, we evaluated longitudinal trends of the outcome measures with regression analyses and made assumptions on the basis of a simple random sample. We tested interactions between year and demographic subgroups.

Results

There were improvements in all outcomes in 2017 compared with baseline measures (2008 or 2009). Reported in s.d. units [95% confidence interval (CI)], the improvement for knowledge was 0.17 (0.10–0.23); for attitudes 0.25 (0.18–0.31); and for social distance 0.29 (0.23–0.35). A higher likelihood of reporting contact was also associated with most recent survey year (odds ratio 1.47, 95% CI 1.27–1.71). Statistically significant interactions between year and region of England suggest greatest improvements in attitudes and intended behaviour in London, where both outcomes were significantly worse in the early years of the survey. However, for attitudes, this interaction was only significant among women. Other significant interactions suggest that attitudes improved most in the target age group (25–44).

Conclusions

The results provide support for the effectiveness of TTC across demographic groups. However, other societal changes may influence the results, such as the increasing prevalence of common mental disorder in young women.

Keywords

Attitudesbehaviourknowledgemental healthstigmaTime to Change

Information

Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 49 , Issue 16 , December 2019 , pp. 2717 - 2726
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Borschmann, R, Greenberg, N, Jones, N and Henderson, RC (2014) Campaigns to reduce mental illness stigma in Europe: a scoping review. Die Psychiatrie 11, 43–50.Google Scholar
Clement, S, Brohan, E, Sayce, L, Pool, J and Thornicroft, G (2011) Disability hate crime and targeted violence and hostility: a mental health and discrimination perspective. Journal of Mental Health 20, 219–225.Google Scholar
Coid, JW, Ullrich, S, Keers, R, Bebbington, P, Destavola, BL, Kallis, C, Yang, M, Reiss, D, Jenkins, R and Donnelly, P (2013) Gang membership, violence, and psychiatric morbidity. American Journal of Psychiatry 170, 985–993.Google Scholar
Corker, E, Hamilton, S, Robinson, E, Cotney, J, Pinfold, V, Rose, D, Thornicroft, G and Henderson, C (2016) Viewpoint survey of mental health service users’ experiences of discrimination in England 2008–2014. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 134, 6–13.Google Scholar
Corrigan, PW, Markowitz, FE and Watson, AC (2004) Structural levels of mental illness stigma and discrimination. Schizophrenia Bulletin 30, 481–491.Google Scholar
Corrigan, PW, Powell, KJ and Michaels, PJ (2013) The effects of news stories on the stigma of mental illness. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 201, 179–182.Google Scholar
Department of Health (2011) No Health Without Mental Health: A Cross-Government Mental Health Outcomes Strategy for People of all Ages – Impact Assessment. London: Department of Health.Google Scholar
Evans-Lacko, S, Little, K, Meltzer, H, Rose, D, Rhydderch, D, Henderson, C and Thornicroft, G (2010) Development and psychometric properties of the Mental Health Knowledge Schedule. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry 55, 440–448.Google Scholar
Evans-Lacko, S, Rose, D, Little, K, Flach, C, Rhydderch, D, Henderson, C and Thornicroft, G (2011) Development and psychometric properties of the reported and intended behaviour scale (RIBS): a stigma-related behaviour measure. Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences 20, 263–271.Google Scholar
Evans-Lacko, S, Brohan, E, Mojtabai, R and Thornicroft, G (2012) Association between public views of mental illness and self-stigma among individuals with mental illness in 14 European countries. Psychological Medicine 42, 1741–1752.Google Scholar
Evans-Lacko, S, Corker, E, Williams, P, Henderson, C and Thornicroft, G (2014) Effect of the Time to Change anti-stigma campaign on trends in mental-illness-related public stigma among the English population in 2003–13: an analysis of survey data. The Lancet. Psychiatry 1, 121–128.Google Scholar
Hatzenbuehler, ML, Phelan, JC and Link, BG (2013) Stigma as a fundamental cause of population health inequalities. American Journal of Public Health 103, 813–821.Google Scholar
Heinz, A, Deserno, L and Reininghaus, U (2013) Urbanicity, social adversity and psychosis. World Psychiatry 12, 187–197.Google Scholar
Henderson, C and Thornicroft, G (2009) Stigma and discrimination in mental illness: Time to Change. Lancet 373, 1928–1930.Google Scholar
Henderson, C, Williams, P, Little, K and Thornicroft, G (2013) Mental health problems in the workplace: changes in employers' knowledge, attitudes and practices in England 2006–2010. British Journal of Psychiatry 55, s70–s76.Google Scholar
Henderson, C, Robinson, E, Evans-Lacko, S, Corker, E, Rebollo-Mesa, I, Rose, D and Thornicroft, G (2016) Public knowledge, attitudes, social distance and reported contact regarding people with mental illness 2009–2015. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 134, 23–33.Google Scholar
Ilic, N, Henderson, H, Henderson, C, Evans-Lacko, S and Thornicroft, G (2014) Attitudes towards mental illness. In Craig, R, Fuller, E and Mindell, J (eds), Health Survey for England 2014: Health, Social Care and Lifestyles. London: Health and Social Care Information Centre.Google Scholar
Kirkbride, JB, Errazuriz, A, Croudace, TJ, Morgan, C, Jackson, D, Boydell, J, Murray, RM and Jones, PB (2012) Incidence of schizophrenia and other psychoses in England, 1950–2009: a systematic review and meta-analyses. PLoS ONE 7, e31660.Google Scholar
Laursen, TM, Munk-Olsen, T, Nordentoft, M and Mortensen, PB (2007) Increased mortality among patients admitted with major psychiatric disorders: a register-based study comparing mortality in unipolar depressive disorder, bipolar affective disorder, schizoaffective disorder, and schizophrenia. The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 68, 899–907.Google Scholar
Mai, Q, D'Arcy, C, Holman, J, Sanfilippo, FM, Emery, JD and Preen, DB (2011) Mental illness related disparities in diabetes prevalence, quality of care and outcomes: a population-based longitudinal study. BMC Medicine 9, 118.Google Scholar
McManus, S, Bebbington, P, Jenkins, R and Brugha, T (eds) (2016) Mental Health and Wellbeing in England: Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey 2014. Leeds: NHS Digital.Google Scholar
Mehta, N, Kassam, A, Leese, M, Butler, G and Thornicroft, G (2009) Public attitudes towards people with mental illness in England and Scotland, 1994–2003. The British Journal of Psychiatry 194, 278–284.Google Scholar
NatCen Social Research (2016) Attitudes to mental health problems and mental wellbeing: findings from the 2015 British social attitudes survey. British Social Attitudes 33, 1–16.Google Scholar
National Institute for Health Clinical Excellence (2007) Behaviour Change. London: NICE.Google Scholar
Primary Care Domain NHS Digital (2015–16) Quality and Outcomes Framework – Prevalence, Achievements and Exceptions Report.Google Scholar
Qassem, T, Bebbington, P, Spiers, N, McManus, S, Jenkins, R and Dein, S (2015) Prevalence of psychosis in black ethnic minorities in Britain: analysis based on three national surveys. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 50, 1057–1064.Google Scholar
Sampogna, G, Bakolis, I, Evans-Lacko, S, Robinson, E, Thornicroft, G and Henderson, C (2017) The impact of social marketing campaigns on reducing mental health stigma: results from the 2009–2014 Time to Change programme. European Psychiatry 40, 116–122.Google Scholar
Sauzet, O, Breckenkamp, J, Borde, T, Brenne, S, David, M, Razum, O and Peacock, JL (2016) A distributional approach to obtain adjusted comparisons of proportions of a population at risk. Emerging Themes in Epidemiology 13, 8.Google Scholar
Schomerus, G, Schwahn, C, Holzinger, A, Corrigan, PW, Grabe, HJ, Carta, MG and Angermeyer, MC (2012) Evolution of public attitudes about mental illness: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 125, 440–452.Google Scholar
Shefer, G, Rose, D, Nellums, L, Thornicroft, G, Henderson, C and Evans-Lacko, S (2013) 'Our community is the worst': the influence of cultural beliefs on stigma, relationships with family and help-seeking in three ethnic communities in London. International Journal of Social Psychiatry 59, 535–544.Google Scholar
Social Exclusion Unit (2004) Mental Health and Social Exclusion. London: Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.Google Scholar
Star, SA (1952) What the public thinks about mental health and mental illness. Indianapolis, Indiana. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Association of Mental Health.Google Scholar
Taylor, SM and Dear, MJ (1981) Scaling community attitudes toward the mentally ill. Schizophrenia Bulletin 7, 225–240.Google Scholar
Thornicroft, G, Rose, D, Kassam, A and Sartorius, N (2007) Stigma: ignorance, prejudice or discrimination? British Journal of Psychiatry 190, 192–193.Google Scholar
Thornicroft, A, Goulden, R, Shefer, G, Rhydderch, D, Rose, D, Williams, P, Thornicroft, G and Henderson, C (2013) Newspaper coverage of mental illness in England 2008–2011. British Journal of Psychiatry Supplement 55, s64–s69.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Robinson and Henderson supplementary material

Appendices 1-4

Download Robinson and Henderson supplementary material(File)
File 277.4 KB