The purpose of the study is to evaluate the efficacy of the group-based intervention 'Honest Open Proud' among adolescents with mental illness.
Both due to fear of public stigma and due to self-stigma or shame, people with mental illness may decide to keep their condition a secret or even to withdraw from other people altogether in order to minimise the risk of being labelled. Secrecy can help on the short term to protect individuals from public stigma, but often it has negative long-term consequences such as social isolation, distress and unemployment. Disclosure, on the other hand, carries the risk to be discriminated by others, but can reduce the burden of secrecy, lead to support by others and reduce public stigma. In this study investigators aim to evaluate whether a group program run both by people with mental illness (peers) and professionals helps to reduce self-stigma and makes it easier for adolescents to handle the necessary choices related to secrecy versus disclosure.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE
Enrollment
100
five lessons in three modules, two for each two-hour session 1. Considering pros and cons of disclosing: * hurtful and helpful attitudes about mental illness * identify beliefs participants hold about themselves * explore five-step process to challenge their personally hurtful beliefs * weigh pros and cons of coming out in order to facilitate a decision on whether to disclose 2. Different ways to disclose: * different levels of (non-) disclosure and how to weigh the cons and pros * disclosure via social media versus disclosing face to face * how to find people that are better to disclose to than others and how to 'test them out' * participants will discuss how others might respond to their disclosure and how that will affect them 3. Telling your story: * how to tell one's story in a personally meaningful way, how to identify peers who might help with the coming out process, to review how telling one's story felt
Illinois Institute of Technology
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Josefinum, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy
Augsburg, Germany
Department of Psychiatry II, Section Public Mental Health, Ulm University, Bezirkskrankenhaus Günzburg
Ulm, Germany
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Ulm
Ulm, Germany
Stigma Stress Scale, 8 items (Rüsch, Corrigan, Wassel et al., 2009; Rüsch, Corrigan, Powell et al., 2009)
Time frame: 3 weeks (T1)
Health-Related Quality of Life Questionnaire KIDSCREEN-10 Index, 10 items (Deighton et al., 2014; Ravens-Sieberer et al., 2010)
Time frame: 6 weeks (T2)
Satisfaction with intervention questionnaire (according to Keller, Konopka, Fegert, & Naumann, 2003; own development)
Time frame: 3 weeks
Empowerment Scale, Subscales 'self-esteem' and 'control over the future', 13 items (Rogers, Chamberlin, Ellison, & Crean, 1997)
Time frame: baseline, 3 and 6 weeks
Attitudes to disclosure, 2 items (Rüsch, Evans-Lacko, Henderson, Flach, & Thornicroft, 2011)
2 items on attitudes to disclosure, adapted from a UK Dept of Health survey (see above Rüsch et al 2011 reference for further details) with seven-point Likert scale
Time frame: baseline, 3 and 6 weeks
Disclosure Distress, 1 item ("In general, how distressed or worried are you in terms of secrecy or disclosure of your mental illness to others?', from 1, not at all, to 7, very much) (Rüsch et al., 2014a)
Time frame: baseline, 3 and 6 weeks
Shame about having a mental illness, 1 item ("Do you feel ashamed about having a mental illness?"; from 1, not at all, to 7, very much) (Rüsch et al., 2014b)
Time frame: baseline, 3 and 6 weeks
General Help-Seeking Questionnaire, 1 item (Wilson et al., 2005)
Time frame: baseline, 3 and 6 weeks
This platform is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional.
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Weissenau, Centre for Psychiatry in South-Württemberg
Weißenau, Germany
Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS), 4-item short version (Yip, Paul S F & Cheung, 2006)
Time frame: baseline, 3 and 6 weeks
Self-Stigma of Mental Illness Scale (SSMIS), Subscale 'self-concurrence', 5 items (Corrigan et al., 2012; Rüsch et al., 2006)
Time frame: baseline, 3 and 6 weeks
Self-Identified Stage of Recovery (SISR), 5 items (Andresen, Caputi, & Oades, 2010)
brief self-rated assessment of stage of recovery; consists of two parts (A \& B): Part A reflects five statements about stages of recovery, participants have to choose one that best reflects their current experience. Part B consists of four statements reflecting recovery processes, rated on a six-point Likert scale
Time frame: baseline, 3 and 6 weeks
Internalised Stigma of Mental Illness Inventory (ISMI), 10-item short version (Boyd, Otilingam, & Deforge, 2014)
Time frame: baseline, 3 and 6 weeks
Social withdrawal and secrecy, 12 item-short version (Link et al., 2009)
Time frame: baseline, 3 and 6 weeks