IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/socpsy/v57y2011i4p362-374.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How Black African and White British Women Perceive Depression and Help-Seeking: a Pilot Vignette Study

Author

Listed:
  • June S.L. Brown

    (Psychology Department, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College, London, UK, june.brown@kcl.ac.uk)

  • Sarah J. Casey

    (Psychology Department, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College, London, UK)

  • Amanda J. Bishop

    (Psychological Treatment Service, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, UK)

  • Marta Prytys

    (Section of Social Psychiatry, Health Services and Population Research Department, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College, London, UK)

  • Naureen Whittinger

    (Maudsley Psychology Centre, Maudsley Hospital, London, UK)

  • John Weinman

    (Department of Psychology, Guy's Campus, King's College, London, UK)

Abstract

Background: The detection of psychological problems of black African people has been found to be substantially lower, compared with white British and black Caribbean people. This may be due to differences in patients’ perceptions of illness. Little research has been carried out on factors that may influence the help-seeking behaviour of black Africans. Aims: To assess differences in the perceptions of depression of black African and white British women that may influence lower detection and to investigate whether there are ethnic group differences in reasons for not seeking formal help. Methods: A short quantitative illness perception measure, the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire (BIPQ), was used in a community survey, using a standard text vignette methodology to control for variations in previous experiences of depression. Responses from women who indicated that they would not seek formal help for depressive symptoms were qualitatively analyzed. Results: Differences in perceptions of depression were found between black African ( n = 73) and white British groups ( n = 72) on five of the nine BIPQ dimensions. Black women were more likely to perceive depression to have less serious consequences; to be associated with fewer symptoms; to be less chronic; to be less amenable to treatment; and more frequently attributed depression to social factors. Over half the participants ( n = 74) said they would not seek formal help for depressive symptoms. Six qualitative response categories emerged to explain non-consultation. The most common factor for both groups related to GP consultation difficulties. Significantly more white women cited preferring alternative help sources as a reason for non-consultation. The greater number of black women citing anti-medication beliefs was marginally significant. There were no differences between the ethnic groups in their use of the remaining three categories: illness characteristics; service constraints; and stigma/shame. Conclusion: Differing perceptions of depression among black and white women could help explain GPs’ lower detection rates of depressive problems of black women. Differences in views about the formal help available may explain ethnic differences in help-seeking.

Suggested Citation

  • June S.L. Brown & Sarah J. Casey & Amanda J. Bishop & Marta Prytys & Naureen Whittinger & John Weinman, 2011. "How Black African and White British Women Perceive Depression and Help-Seeking: a Pilot Vignette Study," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 57(4), pages 362-374, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:57:y:2011:i:4:p:362-374
    DOI: 10.1177/0020764009357400
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0020764009357400
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0020764009357400?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bhui, K. & Stansfeld, S. & McKenzie, K. & Karlsen, S. & Nazroo, J. & Weich, S., 2005. "Racial/ethnic discrimination and common mental disorders among workers: Findings from the EMPIRIC study of ethnic minority groups in the United Kingdom," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 95(3), pages 496-501.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Fareeda Abo-Rass & Sarah Abu-Kaf & Ora Nakash, 2022. "Barriers to Mental Health Service Use among Palestinian-Arab Women in Israel: Psychological Distress as Moderator," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-12, October.
    2. June Brown & Ana Luderowski & Josephine Namusisi-Riley & Imogen Moore-Shelley & Matthew Bolton & Derek Bolton, 2020. "Can a Community-Led Intervention Offering Social Support and Health Education Improve Maternal Health? A Repeated Measures Evaluation of the PACT Project Run in a Socially Deprived London Borough," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(8), pages 1-16, April.
    3. Matteo Catanzano & Sophie D Bennett & Marc S Tibber & Anna E Coughtrey & Holan Liang & Isobel Heyman & The Lucy Project Team & Roz Shafran, 2021. "A Mental Health Drop-In Centre Offering Brief Transdiagnostic Psychological Assessment and Treatment in a Paediatric Hospital Setting: A One-Year Descriptive Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(10), pages 1-16, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gee, Gilbert C. & Spencer, Michael & Chen, Juan & Yip, Tiffany & Takeuchi, David T., 2007. "The association between self-reported racial discrimination and 12-month DSM-IV mental disorders among Asian Americans nationwide," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(10), pages 1984-1996, May.
    2. Gee, Gilbert & Walsemann, Katrina, 2009. "Does health predict the reporting of racial discrimination or do reports of discrimination predict health? Findings from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(9), pages 1676-1684, May.
    3. Alfonso Urzúa & Alejandra Caqueo-Urízar & Diego Henríquez & Marcos Domic & Daniel Acevedo & Sebastian Ralph & Gonzalo Reyes & Diego Tang, 2021. "Ethnic Identity as a Mediator of the Relationship between Discrimination and Psychological Well-Being in South—South Migrant Populations," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-13, February.
    4. Jianwei Deng & Zhennan Wu & Tianan Yang & Yunfei Cao & Zhenjiao Chen, 2020. "Effect of Work Environment on Presenteeism among Aging American Workers: The Moderated Mediating Effect of Cynical Hostility," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(13), pages 1-14, July.
    5. Seung-Sup Kim & David R Williams, 2012. "Perceived Discrimination and Self-Rated Health in South Korea: A Nationally Representative Survey," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(1), pages 1-8, January.
    6. van der Wal, J.M. & Huth, K.B.S. & Lok, A. & Bockting, C.L. & Stronks, K. & Nicolaou, M., 2024. "Exploring the mechanisms underlying increased risk of depressive disorder in ethnic minority populations in Europe: A causal loop diagram," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 351(C).
    7. Javier Alvarez-Galvez & Luis Salvador-Carulla, 2013. "Perceived Discrimination and Self-Rated Health in Europe: Evidence from the European Social Survey (2010)," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(9), pages 1-1, September.
    8. Alison Daly & Renee N Carey & Ellie Darcey & HuiJun Chih & Anthony D LaMontagne & Allison Milner & Alison Reid, 2018. "Workplace psychosocial stressors experienced by migrant workers in Australia: A cross-sectional study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(9), pages 1-19, September.
    9. Hudson, Darrell L. & Puterman, Eli & Bibbins-Domingo, Kirsten & Matthews, Karen A. & Adler, Nancy E., 2013. "Race, life course socioeconomic position, racial discrimination, depressive symptoms and self-rated health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 7-14.
    10. Kamaldeep Bhui & Nasir Warfa & Edgar Jones, 2014. "Is Violent Radicalisation Associated with Poverty, Migration, Poor Self-Reported Health and Common Mental Disorders?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(3), pages 1-10, March.
    11. Kelaher, M. & Paul, Sheila & Lambert, Helen & Ahmad, Waqar & Paradies, Yin & Davey Smith, George, 2008. "Discrimination and health in an English study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(7), pages 1627-1636, April.
    12. Schnittker, Jason, 2020. "Religion, social integration, and depression in Europe: Evidence from the European Social Survey," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 267(C).
    13. Ewa Johnsson & Krystyna Zolkowska & Thomas F McNeil, 2015. "Prediction of adaptation difficulties by country of origin, cumulate psychosocial stressors and attitude toward integrating: A Swedish study of first-generation immigrants from Somalia, Vietnam and Ch," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 61(2), pages 174-182, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:57:y:2011:i:4:p:362-374. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.