Mental Illness Beliefs and Help-Seeking in African-descended UK-based groups

Abstract

This thesis is being submitted as part of the examination requirements for a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology. It has been written by Aisleen Keena and was submitted in August 2019. It is being submitted in journal format. The first paper is the systematic review. Its aim is to review studies that provided information on the types of assistance sought by African-descended UK-based groups for mental-health difficulties. Four quantitative, four qualitative and two mixed-methods studies were included in the analysis. Findings, clinical implications and limitations are discussed. The second paper is the empirical study. It is a cross-sectional quantitative study which investigated associations between mental illness beliefs, perceived discrimination and attitudes towards accessing help from mental health services in an African-descended UKbased sample. Treatment control and illness coherence were the only significant individual predictors of attitudes towards help-seeking. Perceived discrimination did not moderate the relationship between mental illness perceptions and attitudes towards help-seeking. Clinical implications and limitations are discussed. The third paper is a critical appraisal of the research process and the two previous papers.

Date of Award	31 Dec 2019
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The University of Manchester
Supervisor	Katherine Berry (Supervisor), Dawn Edge (Supervisor) & Jasper Palmier-Claus (Supervisor)