Trompeter, Nora;
Rafferty, Laura;
Dyball, Daniel;
McKenzie, Amber;
Greenberg, Neil;
Fear, Nicola T;
Stevelink, Sharon AM;
(2023)
Gender differences in structural and attitudinal barriers to mental healthcare in UK Armed Forces personnel and veterans with self-reported mental health problems.
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology
10.1007/s00127-023-02567-0.
(In press).
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Abstract
Purpose: Structural and attitudinal barriers often hinder treatment-seeking for mental health problems among members of the Armed Forces. However, little is known about potential gender differences in structural and attitudinal barriers among members of the UK Armed Forces. The current study aimed to explore how men and women differ in terms of these barriers to care among a sample of UK Armed Forces personnel and veterans with self-reported mental health problems. Methods: Currently serving and ex-serving members of the UK Armed Forces who self-reported a mental health problem were invited to participate in a semi-structured phone interview on mental health and treatment-seeking. The final sample included 1448 participants (1229 men and 219 women). All participants reported on their current mental health, public stigma, self-stigma, and barriers to mental healthcare. Results: Overall, men and women reported similar levels of both structural and attitudinal barriers, with no significant differences detected. The highest scores for both men and women were observed in attitudinal barriers relating to self-stigma domains, which encapsulate internalised attitudes and beliefs about mental illness and treatment. Conclusions: Findings suggest that anti-stigma campaigns can be targeted simultaneously at both men and women within the Armed Forces. In particular, targeting self-stigma may be beneficial for health promotion campaigns.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Gender differences in structural and attitudinal barriers to mental healthcare in UK Armed Forces personnel and veterans with self-reported mental health problems |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s00127-023-02567-0 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-023-02567-0 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
| Keywords: | Stigma, Barriers to care, Military personnel, Mental health problems, Gender diferences |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health > Population, Policy and Practice Dept |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10179629 |
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