Dear Colleagues
Attached information on a new publication from the Scottish Executive
Well. What do you think? A National Scottish Survey of Public Attitudes Towards Mental Health, Well Being and Mental Health Problems
Richard Glendinning, Tim Buchanan, Nickie Rose, Angela Hallam.
The publication is freely available on line at
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/health/wwdy-00.asp
Press release below
David McDaid
LSE Health and Social Care
Survey into attitudes to mental health 15th December 2002
News Release: SEhd266/2002
Also at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/pages/news/2002/12/SEhd266.aspx
Two out of three people know someone who has been diagnosed with a mental health problem, with one in four having being diagnosed themselves, Scotland's first survey into public attitudes to mental health has revealed. The report Well? What do you think? aims to take the pulse of the nation's attitudes to mental health. It will become a resource which will be reproduced every two years to help inform the National Programme to Improve Mental Health and Well-Being in Scotland.
Health Minister Malcolm Chisholm said:
"The findings in all the areas addressed by the survey provide us with useful information for the work being undertaken on mental health issues in Scotland, both nationally and locally.
"The survey report provides us with an insight into people's understanding, experience and perception of mental health and mental health problems, their attitudes towards mental health problems and people who suffer from them and the sources of information about mental health issues they use.
"There are some encouraging findings from the parts of the survey which deal with people's attitudes towards those who experience mental health problems.
"There was widespread recognition that people with mental health problems are not to blame for their condition and should have equal rights with the rest of the population. However, there was also evidence of stigma experienced by those with mental health problems and the work of see me campaign, which I launched in October, seeks to address this.
"We know from the survey findings that people demonstrated awareness of the factors that might influence their own mental health and well being, positively or negatively, and the National Programme to Improve Mental Health and Well-Being in Scotland will play an important role in guiding work to assist this."
Key findings from the survey also identified:
* the heaviest users of GP services were older people, those who reported higher levels of stress and people who had experienced mental health problems
* the best health was enjoyed by those people who reported the least stress in their lives, people under the age of 55 and those living in affluent areas
* stress, or the perception of it, declined with age
* younger people were (broadly) likely to be more tolerant of those with mental health problems than people over the age of 75
* links between levels of stress reported by respondents and their assessment of their own health, energy and state of mind
* those who were stressed, those with low mental health/vitality scores and those who had little control over factors impacting on their own mental health were likely to know fewer people in the neighbourhood and
* strong links between both general health and rates of mental health/vitality and a range of socio-economic factors
Early findings, released in October 2002, from early analysis of survey showed that:
* 98% of those asked recognised that anyone can suffer from mental health problems, with 88% feeling that people with mental health problems should have the same rights as anyone else. However, 50% of respondents said that if they had a mental health problem, they would not want other people to know about it.
* Almost half of respondents (44%) thought that media portrayal of people with mental health problems was generally more negative than positive
* 71% of respondents said that someone close to them had been diagnosed with a mental health problem at some time in their life and 27% had personally experienced a mental health problem
* A third of those who had personally experienced a mental health problem reported difficulties (such as being discouraged from participating in social events, discrimination at work or verbal abuse in public) as a result of other people's attitudes to their mental health problem
* 'Improving services for people who develop mental health problems, supporting people at difficult times of their life and helping people to understand about mental health' were identified as the top priorities for the Government in Scotland
|