Stigma and Trust Among Mental Health Service Users

Abstract

This paper investigates whether and how the stigma experiences of mental health service users relate to trust in the professionals caring for them, and how both stigma and trust relate to service user satisfaction. The study uses survey data gathered from mental health service users (N = 650 service users from 36 organizations) and applies multilevel regression analyses. The results show that service users with more stigma experiences report less trust and are, partially for that reason, less satisfied with the services. Furthermore, service users with more severe symptoms and those with a psychotic disorder seem the most vulnerable ones for the processes occurring.

Mental Health–Related Discrimination as a Predictor of Low Engagement With Mental Health Services

“…Other research has found an association between anticipated racial discrimination and generalized mistrust in other people (25). Research in the mental health field has shown a relationship between discrimination or stigma and mistrust in health care professionals (14,31). However, as far as we are aware, ours is the first research to demonstrate a pathway from discrimination to mistrust in services and then to low engagement.…”

Satisfaction with substance use treatment and 12-step groups predicts outcomes

“…The link between SUD treatment satisfaction and outcomes may be explained by increased retention and intensity of services, which underscore the importance of assessing and enhancing patient satisfaction in outpatient treatment programs and mutual help groups (Hser et al, 2004;Kelly et al, 2010;Villafranca, McKellar, Trafton, & Humphreys, 2006). Methods to enhance SUD treatment satisfaction include reducing wait time prior to SUD treatment intake , tailoring treatment to service users and promoting patient participation in treatment decisions (Kasprow et al, 1999;Laudet et al, 2009;Trujols et al, 2012), and reducing stigmatization and building trust between patients and providers, especially among SUD patients with more severe symptoms (Bohnert, Zivin, Welsh, & Kilbourne, 2011;Verhaeghe & Bracke, 2011). It will be important to systematically evaluate these suggestions to identify factors that enhance satisfaction with SUD treatment.…”

Internalized stigma and its psychosocial correlates in Korean patients with serious mental illness

“…According to a systematic review and meta-analysis of internalized stigma among mentally ill patients of diverse psychiatric diagnoses (Livingston and Boyd, 2010), high levels of internalized stigma were associated with various psychosocial (i.e., hopelessness, low self-esteem, low empowerment, reduced self-efficacy, and poor social support) and clinical factors, such as symptom severity, although not with socio-demographic factors. Moreover, previous studies revealed several effects of internalized stigma on individuals with mental illness, including reluctance to seek care (Corrigan, 2004), reduced trust in service providers (Verhaeghe and Bracke, 2011), poor adherence to psychosocial treatment (Fung et al, 2008) or medication (Tsang et al, 2009), increased hospitalizations (Rüsch et al, 2009), barrier to recovery (Ritsher and Phelan, 2004;Muñoz et al, 2011), less improvement in job functioning (Yanos et al, 2010), and poor quality of life (Vauth et al, 2007;Norman et al, 2011;Sibitz et al, 2011). Therefore, mental health professionals must come to understand the characteristics and correlates of internalized stigma to comprehend and manage their patients effectively.…”