Attitudes of the public to mental health: A church congregation
Attitudes towards those with mental illness vary amongst different groups in society. These attitudes affect the daily experience of mental health service users. It has been suggested that those from a theologically conservative Christian group might generally have more negative attitudes towards th...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Taylor & Francis
2001
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| In: |
Mental health, religion & culture
Year: 2001, Volume: 4, Issue: 1, Pages: 71-79 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Attitudes towards those with mental illness vary amongst different groups in society. These attitudes affect the daily experience of mental health service users. It has been suggested that those from a theologically conservative Christian group might generally have more negative attitudes towards those with mental health difficulties because of the association of mental illness with personal sin and demon possession. The aim here is to test the hypothesis that members of a theologically conservative church congregation would have more negative attitudes than the general population towards people with mental illness. The sample consisted of 68 people from a predominantly white, middle class, evangelical Anglican congregation. Attitudes were measured by means of a questionnaire. Results are compared with those from the general UK population. The results showed that the church group expressed less negative and rejecting attitudes to people with mental illness than the population sample. Both groups could differentiate between types of mental illnesses and had varying expectations of those with each illness. There was no evidence of judgmental attitudes towards those with mental illness. The church group has major concerns about dangerousness and unpredictability and finds service users hard to talk to. Further public education opportunities should aim to alter these damaging negative perceptions of those with mental illness. |
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| ISSN: | 1469-9737 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Mental health, religion & culture
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/713685617 |