U.K. Army medical and unit welfare officers' perceptions of mental health stigma and its impact on army personnel's mental health help seeking

Mental health stigma and barriers to care (BTC) reportedly impede help seeking among U.K. military personnel. Military service providers' perceptions of this link were investigated. Secondary thematic analysis of interviews with 21 U.K. Army unit welfare and medical officers led to three master themes: military culture, barriers to care, and stigma alleviation success. It was perceived that military culture and associated stoicism create beliefs surrounding legitimacy of mental health problems, confidentiality, and career concerns that affect help seeking. Decreased stigma was perceived and attributed to current stigma reduction interventions. Recommendations for education based stigma reduction methods are made

Medical and Welfare Officers beliefs about post-deployment screening for mental health disorders in the UK Armed Forces:a qualitative study

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to examine currently serving United Kingdom (UK) military Medical and Welfare Officers views on the potential introduction of post-deployment screening for mental ill health. METHODS: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 Medical and Welfare Officers. Interview transcripts were analysed using data-driven thematic analysis. RESULTS: Four themes were identified: positive views of screening; reliability of responses; impact on workload; and suggestions for implementation. Interviewees viewed the introduction of screening post-deployment as likely to increase awareness of mental health problems whilst also reporting that service personnel were likely to conceal their true mental health status by providing misleading responses to any screening tool. Concern over reliability of responses may provide one explanation for the reluctance of service personnel to seek help for problems, as they could feel they will not be taken seriously. Welfare Officers felt they would not have the knowledge or experience to respond to help-seeking. Although participants were concerned about potential impact on their personal workload, they indicated a desire to positively engage with the screening programme if research showed it was an effective tool to improve mental health care. CONCLUSIONS: Welfare and healthcare providers are well disposed towards a screening programme for mental health but highlight a few concerns in its implementation. In particular Welfare Officers appear to require more training in how to respond to mental ill health. Concerns about available funding and resources to respond to increased workload will need to be addressed should post-deployment screening for mental health be introduced in the UK military

Medical and Welfare Officers beliefs about post-deployment screening for mental health disorders in the UK Armed Forces: a qualitative study

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to examine currently serving United Kingdom (UK) military Medical and Welfare Officers views on the potential introduction of post-deployment screening for mental ill health. METHODS: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 Medical and Welfare Officers. Interview transcripts were analysed using data-driven thematic analysis. RESULTS: Four themes were identified: positive views of screening; reliability of responses; impact on workload; and suggestions for implementation. Interviewees viewed the introduction of screening post-deployment as likely to increase awareness of mental health problems whilst also reporting that service personnel were likely to conceal their true mental health status by providing misleading responses to any screening tool. Concern over reliability of responses may provide one explanation for the reluctance of service personnel to seek help for problems, as they could feel they will not be taken seriously. Welfare Officers felt they would not have the knowledge or experience to respond to help-seeking. Although participants were concerned about potential impact on their personal workload, they indicated a desire to positively engage with the screening programme if research showed it was an effective tool to improve mental health care. CONCLUSIONS: Welfare and healthcare providers are well disposed towards a screening programme for mental health but highlight a few concerns in its implementation. In particular Welfare Officers appear to require more training in how to respond to mental ill health. Concerns about available funding and resources to respond to increased workload will need to be addressed should post-deployment screening for mental health be introduced in the UK military

Stigmatisation, perceived barriers to care, help seeking and the mental health of British Military personnel

© 2015, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. Introduction: The relationship between mental health symptoms, stigmatising beliefs about mental health and help seeking is complex and poorly understood. Method: 1636 UK Armed Forces personnel provided study data immediately after deployment (T1) and approximately 6months later (T2). Stigmatising beliefs were assessed using an eight-item scale previously used in studies of UK military personnel. Symptoms of probable common mental disorder, probable post-traumatic stress disorder and subjective stressful, emotional, relationship and family problems were evaluated at T1 and T2. Help seeking during deployment was assessed at T1 and post-deployment help seeking at T2. Alcohol use and subjective alcohol problems were assessed at T2 only. Results: Reporting a probable mental health disorder or potentially harmful alcohol use following deployment was both significantly associated with higher levels of stigmatising beliefs. The reported degree of stigma was associated with changes in mental health symptom levels; compared to those who were never classified as a probable mental health disorder case, recovered cases experienced significantly lower levels of stigmatisation, whereas new onset cases reported significantly higher levels. Conclusion: The way that individuals report mental health stigmatisation is not static; rather stigma fluctuates in proportion to the frequency and severity of psychological symptoms. These results suggest that public health stigma-reduction strategies which aim to promote engagement with mental health services should be focused towards people who are experiencing worsening mental health. Our results suggest that willing volunteers who have recovered from a mental-ill-health episode may be well placed to assist in the delivery of such a strategy