It Gets Better with Time: The Perception of Stigma Among Older Adults with Chronic Physical Illness and in Recovery from Mental Health Condition

Abstract

Older adults are a vulnerable population who are more susceptible to developing mental health conditions, and the symptoms are often exacerbated by the co-occurrence of various physical health complications. Despite available evidence-based interventions, many older adults neglect to utilize mental health services, due to the stigmatization of mental health conditions. Limited research has focused on the unique experiences of older adults who have overcome the adverse effects of stigma, have sought help for their mental health condition and are currently in recovery. There are even fewer studies that have addressed perceptions of stigma among older adults in recovery from a mental health condition who are currently living with a chronic physical illness. The present study investigated the unique experiences of seeking professional mental health services and the perceptions of stigma among nine older adults living with a chronic physical illness and currently in recovery from a mental health condition utilizing semi-structured interviews. Through an in-depth thematic analysis of the data, four over-arching themes were identified: Resilience from the Stigma of a Mental Illness, Community Engagement, Cultural Barriers and Social Support System. Findings from the current study suggest that older adults who have previously experienced a mental health condition and were able to overcome the stigma of their condition, were more likely to seek professional help. Additionally, engaging in community engagement programs to help other older adults who are currently experiencing acute mental health conditions seemed to reduce perceptions of stigma and positively impacted participants self-esteem and overall outlook on life.

Barriers to seeking professional mental health support among older adults with chronic diseases

“…This suggests there are other factors that in uence each of these barriers, which were not included in the present models. Factors such as ethnicity and culture have been shown to in uence help-seeking barriers, attitudes, and beliefs in past research (Johnson & Conner, 2019), however, we did not collect these data.…”

“…Few studies have examined barriers to help-seeking speci c to older adults with chronic diseases (Johnson & Conner, 2019;Pass et al, 2019;Shtompel et al, 2014;Weinberger et al, 2011). It is likely that barriers may differ between older adults with and without chronic conditions, due to greater contact with health care services among people with chronic diseases and differences in the perceived need for mental health care between older adults with chronic diseases and those without (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2020b; Garrido et al, 2009;Marengoni et al, 2011).…”

“…As a result, this stopped them from wanting to seek help (Shtompel et al, 2014). Another study examined the perception of mental health stigma among older adults aged 50-80 years who had sought help for mental health concerns and found that mental health stigma remained a major barrier to seeking help (Johnson & Conner, 2019). In addition, participants reported normalisation of mental health problems, negative past experiences, and fear of disclosure prevented them from seeking help.…”