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Vanessa Pinfold

Publications and source records attributed to Vanessa Pinfold.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Carers and confidentiality in mental health care: considering the role of the carer's assessment: a study of service users', carers' and practitioners' views.

Relatives or carers of people with mental health problems have criticised professionals for their failures to share information with them. This article reports on a multiple method study comprising a policy search, a survey of service users, carers and professionals, and stakeholder interviews and group events. The study found few policies that addressed the principles underpinning information sharing with carers. However, examples of good practice in professional involvement of carers that took account of carer rights and responsibilities emerged from the research. This suggests the relevance of the carer's assessment, a carer's right to an assessment of his or her circumstances and wishes in assisting understanding of the care context and enhancing appropriate information sharing between professionals and carers.

Caregivers↗
PubMed2005

Active ingredients in anti-stigma programmes in mental health.

This paper draws upon a review of the relevant literature and the results of the recent Mental Health Awareness in Action (MHAA) programme in England to discuss the current evidence base on the active ingredients in effective anti-stigma interventions in mental health. The MHAA Programme delivered educational interventions to 109 police officers, 78 adults from different community groups whose working lives involved supporting people with mental health problems but who had received no mental health training and 472 schools students aged 14-15. Each adult target group received two intervention sessions lasting two hours. The two school lessons were 50 minutes each. Knowledge, attitudes and behavioural intent were assessed at baseline and follow-up. In addition focus groups were held with mental health service users to explore the impact of stigma on their lives and facilitators of educational workshops were interviewed to provide expert opinion on 'what works' to reduce psychiatric stigma. Personal contact was predictive of positive changes in knowledge and attitudes for the school students but not the police officers or community adult group. The key active ingredient identified by all intervention groups and workshop facilitators were the testimonies of service users. The statements of service users (consumers) about their experience of mental health problems and of their contact with a range of services had the greatest and most lasting impact on the target audiences in terms of reducing mental health stigma.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Challenging stigma and discrimination in communities: a focus group study identifying UK mental health service users' main campaign priorities.

BACKGROUND: Stigma and discrimination experienced by people with mental health problems have been identified as major obstacles to treatment and recovery. Less is known about how to effectively tackle stigma-discrimination, although there are numerous international, national and local programmes attempting to improve public mental health literacy and anti-discrimination evidenced based practice. AIMS: To explore mental health service users' views on how campaigns to address stigma and discrimination should prioritise their actions. METHOD: Qualitative study using focus group discussions, involving 33 persons aged between 25 and 75. RESULTS: A triad of diminished credibility, dis-empowerment with particular reference to communication problems and avoidance by their social network defined experiences of stigma. Reactions to stigma can be placed in four categories: avoid stigma, resign yourself to it, challenge it, or distance yourself from others with a mental health problem. A range of solutions was discussed with most favouring changes within the health services that are currently supporting them over traditional educational programmes with the public. CONCLUSIONS: For mental health service users stigma must be tackled on many different levels reflecting the varied and complex impact that negative social reactions have on an individual's life. When asked to prioritise one area, most service users in our sample highlighted reforms within the health service for tackling stigma and discrimination.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Reducing psychiatric stigma and discrimination: evaluation of educational interventions in UK secondary schools.

BACKGROUND: The persistent and disabling nature of psychiatric stigma has led to the establishment of global programmes to challenge the negative stereotypes and discriminatory responses that generate social disability, but these initiatives are rarely evaluated. AIMS: To assess the effectiveness of an intervention with young people aimed at increasing mental health literacy and challenging negative stereotypes associated with severe mental illness. METHOD: A total of 472 secondary school students attended two mental health awareness workshops and completed pre- and post-questionnaires detailing knowledge, attitudes and behavioural intentions. RESULTS: Young people use an extensive vocabulary of 270 different words and phrases to describe people with mental health problems: most were derogatory terms. Mean positive attitude scores rose significantly from 1.2 at baseline to 2.8 at 1-week follow-up and 2.3 at a 6-month follow-up. Changes were most marked for female students and those reporting personal contact with people with mental illness. CONCLUSIONS: Short educational workshops can produce positive changes in participants' reported attitudes towards people with mental health problems.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

A 'bittersweet pill to swallow': learning from mental health service users' responses to compulsory community care in England.

Two forms of compulsory mental healthcare and supervision in the community are provided within the Mental Health Act 1983: Supervised Discharge Orders (SDOs) and guardianship. At a time when the Government are proposing to extend powers of supervision over people with severe mental illness in the community, it is appropriate that service users' experiences of existing legislation are examined and reported. Despite a range of literature that presents mental health service users' views and experiences, it remains unclear how service users respond to compulsory community mental healthcare in England. The present paper presents the findings of a qualitative investigation into service users' perceptions and experiences of living with SDOs. In the interviews, service users communicated their understanding of why mental health professionals placed them on the order and how their lives have been affected. Individual service users are capable of seemingly contradictory responses, simultaneously accepting and resisting the orders. This paper presents a typology of the range of responses. These responses are fatalism and resignation, dependency, ownership, bargaining, cooperation, resistance, and rejection. The study provides a model with which we can begin to understand how service users respond to compulsory community care where their options are legally constrained.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Awareness in action.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Adolescent↗