Stigma associated with mental illness continues to be a significant barrier to help seeking, leading to negative attitudes about mental health treatment and deterring individuals who need mental health services from seeking care. Individuals suffering from mental health symptoms who can benefit from mental health treatment choose not to pursue services, or begin treatment but drop out prematurely, to avoid the label of 'mentally ill,' as well as the stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination associated with bearing such a label. Empirical investigation suggests that the stigma of having a mental illness may exert an adverse influence on attitudes toward mental health treatment and service utilization patterns by individuals with a mental health diagnosis. There is, however, a dearth of research that examines the way in which stigma influences attitudes toward seeking mental health services among aging populations and racial/ethnic minorities. This mixed methods study examined the impact of stigma on racial differences in treatment seeking attitudes and behaviors among older adults with depression. Results indicate that older adults with depression have high levels of public stigma and do not intend to seek, nor are they currently engaged in mental health treatment. Results also suggest that African American older adults endorse higher internalized stigma and less positive attitudes toward seeking mental health treatment than their white counterparts. In addition, high level of internalized stigma was related to negative attitudes toward seeking treatment and partially mediated the relationship between race and attitudes toward treatment. Older African Americans in the current study identified a number of experiences living in the black community that impacted their treatment seeking attitudes and behaviors, which led to their identification and utilization of more culturally endorsed coping strategies to deal with their depression. Findings from this study provide a greater understanding of the stigma associated with having a mental illness and its' influence on attitudes and intentions toward seeking mental health services among older adults, particularly African American elders. Additionally, findings from this study provide impetus for a number of practice implications and suggestions for future research.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PITT/oai:PITTETD:etd-07252008-161238 |
| Date | 18 August 2008 |
| Creators | Conner, Kyaien O'Quinn |
| Contributors | Charlotte Brown, Daniel Rosen, Gary Koeske, Nancy Grote, Valire Carr Copeland |
| Publisher | University of Pittsburgh |
| Source Sets | University of Pittsburgh |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-07252008-161238/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Pittsburgh or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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