‘Reduced stigma’ in towns with Pieta House

Reduced stigma around mental health, in areas where Pieta House opened suicide prevention centres, has helped to make locals more open to seeking professional help on related issues, researchers have found.

‘Reduced stigma’ in towns with Pieta House

Reduced stigma around mental health, in areas where Pieta House opened suicide prevention centres, has helped to make locals more open to seeking professional help on related issues, researchers have found.

The authors of the study at the University of Limerick (UL) say it shows that having locally administered services may help shift attitudes around help-seeking behaviour.

It claims to be the first evidence-based research to support a World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendation that services based in the community are more effective, and lessen social exclusion of people with mental ill health.

The study was part of a continuing collaboration between UL’s Centre for Social Issues Research and Pieta House, as part of an enterprise partnership funded by the Irish Research Council.

Pieta House’s mental health services support moving from traditional, hospital-based treatment models to integrated, community-based services accessed on an outpatient basis.

The study has been detailed in the Journal of Mental Health, based on studies in two towns where Pieta House opened centres.

Almost 1,100 people took part in an online or paper survey, either before the service was announced or 10 to 11 months later, although the anonymity of the survey meant it is not known how many answered both surveys in their area.

The questions asked were about the public stigma of mental ill health, self-stigma around seeking psychological help, and attitudes to seeking professional help as a way to get rid of emotional conflicts.

The research also asked participants to rate the standard of mental health services in their town, to help gauge awareness of the service being introduced locally.

After community-based services were introduced in an area, there was significantly lower self-stigma and public stigma surrounding the use of such services, compared to scores prior to them arriving in the local community.

“Attitudes towards seeking professional help, meanwhile, were significantly more positive,” states the research article.

The lead author, Michelle Kearns, said it suggests the local community-based services had initiated a normalising effect.

The visibility of mental health services within a given area may result in community members viewing help-seeking behaviour as something that is not unusual or something to be ashamed of, but rather part of the everyday fabric of maintaining health and well-being, in the same way as visiting a doctor or a dentist.

She undertook the research as part of her PhD, supervised by UL’s Professor Orla Muldoon and Professor Rachel Msetfi, and is now based at University College Dublin.

Prof Muldoon, chairwoman of UL’s psychology department, said the research suggests the reach of accessible services like Pieta House’s extends beyond the direct therapeutic effect of those receiving individual counselling.

Pieta House chief executive Brian Higgins said stigma is often what brings people to their doors, often adding to the stresses on youth and adult mental health.

“Our vision at Pieta House is a world where suicide, self-harm, and stigma have been replaced by hope, self-care and acceptance,” he said.

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