Research Summary
Stigma has been a part of our society for thousands of years, and families, as part of this society, continue to carry and pass it on unwittingly. When mental illness is involved, it becomes even more complicated. Individuals with mental illness and their families often face stigma from many sources, experiencing internal shame, external blame, social avoidance, and exclusion. This leads to a heavy caregiving burden, negative emotions and attitudes, and fear of the illness spreading. Therefore, addressing stigma within families is essential.
Family-based stigma arises from family members themselves due to a multitude of factors. This stigma predominantly affects primary caregivers, such as parents, spouses, and siblings. Family members may either internalize this stigma or reproduce it further.
This project will utilise a mixed methods approach to understand the factors at play towards family-based stigma. The findings will be used to develop a psychoeducational tool in collaboration with individuals with mental illness, their family members and other experts by profession.
Objectives
We want to understand how families experience stigma related to mental illness and how they might reproduce it. We will look at different types of stigma and how they relate to various severe mental illnesses (SMI). We'll explore family dynamics that might cause family stigma and see if there are any existing ways to measure it. Using information from interviews and focus groups, we will create a new scale to measure family stigma and co-design educational tools to help reduce it.
Organisations Involved
Inspire Wellbeing
Inspire Wellbeing is an all-island charity and social enterprise with a goal of wellbeing for all. The organization works with individuals living with mental ill health, intellectual disabilities, autism, and addictions to help them live with dignity and reach their full potential.
Action Mental Health
Action Mental Health has supported people\'s mental health and wellbeing across Northern Ireland for 60 years, providing services through vocational training, supporting employment options, personal development, therapeutic interventions, health and wellbeing programmes and resilience building.
Mindwise
Mindwise is a leading membership-based mental health charity in Northern Ireland. They have been working with people of all ages directly affected by mental health issues as well as families, carers, employers and teachers for over 50 years.