Headstrong Symposium on Youth Mental Health Annual Psychological Society of Ireland Conference Killa

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Headstrong Symposium on Youth Mental
HealthAnnual Psychological Society of Ireland
Conference Killarney17th NovemberDr Tony
BatesDr Barbara DoolyFaye ScanlanConor
McPartlinLouize Carroll
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A public perspective on youth mental healthFaye
Scanlan, Mary Keating Brid ODonoghue
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The Competition
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Why did we hold the public forum?

• To address the challenge of how we should respond
  meaningfully to young people in crisis
• To see if we had a mandate from the public
• To explore what the audience felt were the main
  challenges for youth and what they prioritised
  for action to respond to these difficulties

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What do we know about the publics attitude to
mental health?
Why? The overall objective of the research was
to obtain a comprehensive view of attitudes to
mental health among the Irish adult population
(p. 6)
Who? 1,000 adults aged 18 , nationally
representative, quotas on demographics Only
breakdown of age in data analysis was 35- and 35
Published by the HSE in September
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• Selected Findings
• Suicide, alcoholism depression found to be
  the most important mental health / mental
  health-related problems we need to tackle in
  Ireland
• 62 of people would not want others knowing if
  they themselves had a mental health problem
• The vast majority of adults would turn to their
  GP as their first point of professional contact
  if they had a mental health problem

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(No Transcript)
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Young peoples voices are often unheard as
research is predominantly conducted on adult
populations forgetting the 12-18 year olds, while
the 18-24 year olds voice often gets lost in the
data
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From Mental Health in Ireland Awareness
Attitudes (HSE, 2007)
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Methodology

• An explorative qualitative study
• Convenient sample questionnaires were
  distributed to 600 people who attended the
  forum. Not representative.
• Response rate 41.5 - 249 completed
  questionnaires
• Open-ended questions
• Thematic analysis of responses
• Frequency of themes was calculated separately for
  each question as a frequency of the total number
  of themes generated
• Inter-rater reliability of over 90 was
  established on 100 of the data

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What did we ask?

• In your view, what are some of the main problems
  that young people are experiencing in terms of
  their mental health?
• What is needed to respond to these difficulties?
• What is your dream relating to youth mental
  health?
• ?

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What did they have to say?
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Question 1

• In your view, what are some of the main problems
  that young people are experiencing in terms of
  their mental health?
• n 520 responses

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From Mental Health in Ireland Awareness
Attitudes (HSE, 2007)
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From Mental Health in Ireland Awareness
Attitudes (HSE, 2007)
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Stigma (62) Fear (22) Shame (5) Pathologising
mental health (1) Lying to get employment (1)
Stigma (91)
Pressure (47) Peer pressure (19) Money/materialism
(13) Where to fit in (1)
Pressure (82)
Societal Level 43 (225)
Growing up too fast (13) Poor family
relationships (9) Breakdown of community/sudden
change in society/lack of role models (14) Media
(9) Lack of spiritual holding, morality (5) Lack
of structure (2) Feeling ignored
(1) Understanding of talents (1)
Societal problems (52)
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Lack of support (24) Lack of services (66) 16-18
year olds (11)
Lack of support services (101)
Lack of education (27) Lack of information
(25) Lack of understanding (18) Lack of awareness
(17) Lack of communication (12)
Lack of Awareness (99)
Service System 29 (151)
Cost/funding (5) Lack of trained personnel
(4) Lack of self advocacy (2) User friendliness
(1) Lack of rights (1)
System Capacity Design (31)
Over-reliance on medication (17) More research
needed into medication (1)
Delayed Intervention (22)
Early intervention (7) Poor recognition/late
diagnosis (7) Waiting lists (8)
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Loneliness/isolation/disconnected(20 ) Lack of
skills (life skills coping) (11) Bullying
(9) Low self-esteem (7) Crisis of identity/no
sense of self (7) Lack of direction in life
(6) Poor body image (5) Difficulties to express
themselves (4) Hopelessness/ helplessness
(4) Mistaking information for help (1) Anxiety
(1)
Contributing factors (76)
Individual Level 28 (144)
Drug alcohol abuse (35) Depression (14) Suicide
(8) Self harm (5) Eating disorders (4) Personal
psychological pain (1) Psychosis (1)
Specific disorders (68)
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From Mental Health in Ireland Awareness
Attitudes (HSE, 2007)
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Loneliness/isolation/disconnected(20 ) Lack of
skills (life skills coping) (11) Bullying
(9) Low self-esteem (7) Crisis of identity/no
sense of self (7) Lack of direction in life
(6) Poor body image (5) Difficulties to express
themselves (4) Hopelessness/ helplessness
(4) Mistaking information for help (1) Anxiety
(1)
Contributing factors (76)
Individual Level 28 (144)
Drug alcohol abuse (35) Depression (14) Suicide
(8) Self harm (5) Eating disorders (4) Personal
psychological pain (1) Psychosis (1)
Specific disorders (68)
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What are the main challenges young people in
Ireland are facing today?
N 520
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Question 2

• What is needed to respond to these difficulties?
• N 487 responses

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Raise Awareness/ Reduce Stigma (103)
Prevention, Education Awareness (205)
Education (69)
Prevention (33)
Increase Accessibility of Services (35)
Early intervention (142) Access to timely,
appropriate services
Systems Change 87 (424)
More appropriate services (83)
Early Intervention (24)
Increasing Capacity Across the system (34)
An integrated, innovative approach (74)
Coordinated response (26)
Innovative approaches (14)
A Strategy (5)
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Government policy legislation (19)
Change in government society 7 (33)
Societal Change (14)
Research (5)
Research Advocacy 3 (15)
Youth Involvement Advocacy (10)
Increased resources 3 (15)
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What is needed to respond to these difficulties?
N 487
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Question 3
What is your dream relating to youth mental
health? N 315 responses
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Better recognition of problems (13) Better
referral and follow up (2) Commitment at every
level (1)
Early Intervention (34)
Changes in the Service System 53 (168)
Early intervention (18)
Better availability of services (58)
Services are available accessibility (134)
Accessibility (50)
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Awareness (15)
Greater awareness understanding (107)
Education Understanding (24)
Societal Change 34 (107)
To be able to talk without worry (9) Acceptance
(7) No suicide (6) To know theyre not alone
(6) Better communication (6) Purpose and value in
life (3) Happiness (2) Less alcoholism (2) More
leisure activities (1)
Better outcomes for young people 13 (42)
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What is your dream relating to youth mental
health?
N 315
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Limitations

• Not a representative sample
• Responses are likely to have been influenced by
  the presentations and subsequent discussion at
  the forum
• No demographic data
• Fewer responses due to concerns over
  confidentiality

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Opportunities

• Previous research exploring public attitudes to
  mental health in Ireland has focused on adult
  populations, using closed questions which frame
  mental health problems at the level of the
  individual. E.g. asking participants to identify
  the main problems from a list of DSM categories
  (e.g. depression, anxiety etc.)
• This study focused on youth specifically and
  allowed the public to generate their own
  responses, a very different picture emerged from
  this process
• This study went beyond exploring the nature of
  the problem to examining the publics perceptions
  of what is needed to respond to these difficulties

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What can we conclude from the study

• We must not take youth mental health out of
  context. Participants placed a much greater
  emphasis on societal factors and challenges
  within the service system than on locating the
  challenges at the level of young people
  themselves.
• The vast majority of respondents saw the solution
  to the challenges we are now experiencing in
  youth mental health as involving systems change
  and addressing societal problems
• While specific DSM categories were identified as
  concerns, participants were more concerned with
  the warning signs or contributing factors to
  disorders (e.g. pressure, stress, isolation) and
  a failure to intervene early when these signs
  become apparent.
• Only 3 of the total responses generated (n487)
  identified increased resources as being what is
  needed to resolve the challenges young people are
  facing
• Participants dreams for youth mental health
  focused overwhelmingly on how we (as a service
  system and a society) could better approach youth
  mental health rather than on identifying better
  outcomes for young people such as reduced suicide
  rates