Browsing by Author "Horne, Francesca"

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    Ask me if I am okay: COVID-19 and the psychological and social impact of long-term shielding experiences of people with sickle cell disorders and their care givers
    (De Montfort University, 2021-06-17) Graham, Sadeh; McFee, Rachel; Horne, Francesca; Berghs, Maria; Dyson, Simon; Scott, Yates; Howson, Carlton; Rahman, Hobby
    This pilot mixed methods study wanted to understand the psychological impact, as well as the social needs, of people with sickle cell disorders (SCD) who had been identified as ‘extremely clinically vulnerable’ by the government and had been asked to ‘shield’ at home from the 23rd of March 2020, to when shielding was officially lifted, on the 31st of March 2021. We were also interested in how parents who had SCD and parents of children with the condition were coping. We found that throughout the pandemic, while people’s very basic social needs were being met, their psychological health needs were not.
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    Black Sickle Cell Patients’ Lives Matter: Healthcare, long- term shielding and psychological distress during a racialized pandemic in England – a mixed-methods study
    (BMJ, 2022-09-23) Berghs, Maria; Horne, Francesca; Yates, Scott; Graham, Sadeh; Kemp, Rachel; Webster, Amy; Howson, Carlton
    Objective: To understand the psychological and social impact of shielding on people with sickle cell disorders and their carers in the Midlands region of England. This region was badly affected during the pandemic, with the city of Birmingham having some of the highest rates of COVID-19 deaths. Design: A mixed methods project with a quantitative survey on shielding and adapted SF36 v 2 questionnaire which was supplemented by qualitative semi-structured interviews analysed using Interpretive Phenomenological analysis (IPA). Participants: Fifty-one participants who were predominantly of Black Caribbean or Black African heritage anonymously took part in the online survey. We supplemented this with eight in-depth semi-structured interviews with adults with sickle cell disorders using IPA. Results: The adapted SF36 v2 survey indicated worse quality of life and mental health. The open-ended questions from the adapted survey also identified shielding concerns about hospital care, pain management and knowledge of sickle cell by healthcare professionals. From the interviews it emerged that the racialized element of the pandemic caused significant psychological distress for a population group that had to regularly access hospitals. It was noted that psychological health needs both during a pandemic and outside of it were poorly understood and became invisible in services. The psychological impact of experiences of hospital care as well as growing up with an invisible chronic condition were important to understand psychologically.
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    Multiple Mental Health Literacies in a Traditional Temple Site in Kerala: The Intersection between Beliefs, Spiritual and Healing Regimes
    (Springer, 2022-06-06) Raghavan, Raghu; Horne, Francesca; Ram Kamal, Sreedevi; Parameswaran, Uma; Raghu, Ardra; Wilson, Amanda; Venkateswaran, Chitra; Svirydzenka, N.; Lakhanpaul, Monica; Dasan, Chandra; Brown, Brian J.
    The notion of ‘mental health literacy’ has been proposed as a way of improving mental health problem recognition, service utilisation and reducing stigma. Yet the idea embodies a number of medical-model assumptions which are often at odds with diverse communities’ spiritual traditions and local belief systems. Twenty participants were recruited to this study consisting of mental health service users (N = 7), family carers (N = 8) and community members (N = 5) in a temple town in Kerala, South India participated in semi structured interviews exploring the variety of beliefs and practices relating to mental health. Our findings indicate that the issue may be better understood in terms of multiple mental health literacies which people deploy in different circumstances. Even those sceptical of traditional and spiritual approaches are knowledgeable about them, and the traditional practices themselves often involve detailed regimes of activities aimed at effecting an improvement in the person’s mood or condition. Therefore, we argue it is appropriate to consider mental health literacy not as a unitary universal phenomenon but instead as a mosaic of different literacies which may be deployed in different settings and in line with different experiences and which may operate in synergy with each other to enable treatment but also facilitate a sense of meaning and purpose in life.
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    Sickle Cell and Wellbeing in NHS Services
    (De Montfort University, 2020-12-01) Dyson, Simon M.; Yates, Scott; Kemp, Rachel; Horne, Francesca; Graham, Sadeh; Berghs, Maria
    This guide is based on research examining the shielding experiences of people with sickle cell disorders (SCD) and parents of children with the condition during the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim was to improve NHS services for this population group. Services have duties under the Equality Act 2010 to ensure equity and tackle health inequalities. Since SCD disproportionately affects Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities, there are also duties not to engage in direct or indirect racist discrimination, nor in harassment or victimization. It is important that anti-racist and anti-bias training is offered in all NHS services and cultural competency encouraged amongst all staff. Additionally, that conditions affecting the BAME population, like SCD, become a mandatory part of all nursing and medical educational and NHS training programmes.
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    Stigma and mental health problems in an Indian context. Perceptions of people with mental disorders in urban, rural, and tribal areas of Kerala
    (Sage, 2022-05-01) Raghavan, Raghu; Brown, Brian J.; Horne, Francesca; Kumar, Sanjana; Parameswaran, Uma; Bin Ali, Ameer; Raghu, Ardra; Wilson, Amanda; Venkateswaran, Chitra; Svirydzenka, N.; Kumar, Manoj; Ram Kamal, Sreedevi; Barrett, Andy; Dasan, Chandra; Varma, Aarcha; Banu, Asha
    Background The concept of stigma has been widely used to understand patterns of discrimination and negative ideas surrounding people with mental health problems, yet we know little of the specific nuances of how this might operate beyond the ‘Global North’. Aim This paper aims to explore the notion of stigma in an Indian context by considering the lived experience of patients, carers and community members. Methods A sample of 204 participants, representing mental health patients, informal carers and community members was recruited from urban and rural areas in Kerala, India. Participants took part in interviews where they were encouraged to talk about their experiences of mental ill health, attitudes towards these problems, barriers encountered and sources of support. Results Experiences akin to the experience of stigma in Europe and the United States were elicited but there were important local dimensions specific to the Indian context. The difficulties faced by people with diagnoses of mental disorders in finding marriage partners was seen as an important problem, leading to marriage proposals being refused in some cases, and secrecy on the part of those with mental health problems. Rather than the ‘self-stigma’ identified in the US, participants were more likely to see this as a collective problem in that it could reflect badly on the family group as a whole rather than just the sufferer. Conclusions In the Indian context, the idioms of stigma emphasised impairments in marriage eligibility and the implications for the family group rather than just the self.