Over the course of
last semester, our group focused on mental health stigma with children and
adolescents. We explored this issue,
looking into what the research says about this issue, finding that mental health
stigma is a huge problem, which can have consequences that can negatively
impact one’s physical and mental health.
We are seeking to gain a further understanding of what mental health
stigma looks like to those who experience it, what they see as the consequences
of this stigma, and what they see as possible remedies to this problem.
(1) Recruitment process utilized in inviting individuals to participate
in the assessment: Last semester we
made contact with Youth Move, a group of young adults and adolescents who have
experienced mental illness and are combating mental health stigma, to help us
to better understand this issue. We met
with some of the members of Youth Move last semester to get to know them, and
to begin a ongoing working relationship with their group, because we believe
they are uniquely qualified to speak to the issue of mental health stigma. We are going to email our contact with Youth
Move, and ask them if some of their members would be willing to participate in
a focus group facilitated by our group.
Youth Move has previously expressed a willingness to help us out in this
way. We are going to try to find a time
that will work for both parties, and then we will entice Youth Move with pizza
and drinks to participate in our focus group.
(2) Approximate number of people to include in the assessment: We are going to ask our contact at Youth
Move to round up 10-12 of their members to participate in this focus
group. We are asking for 10-12
participants in case there are some individuals who are unable to show up. This way we will be have at least 6 people in
the focus group in a worst case scenario.
(3) Approximate number of focus groups/interviews/surveys to be
conducted: We are hoping to conduct
one focus group with 6-12 members of Youth Move. We are going to nominate one of our group members
to serve as the Moderator and another group member to be the assistant. If Youth Move shows a larger interest in
participation then we might spilt into two focus groups, and have a moderator
and assistant from our group to each focus group.
(4) Time and location of the assessment: After we coordinate schedules, we will
finalize a time and date, but we hope to finalize a time in the middle to the
end of February, which will allow us plenty of time to organize the information
we collect from the focus group. Most
likely we will conduct this focus group at NAMI’s Salt lake chapter, because
this is where Youth Move holds their regular meetings.
(5) Roles and responsibilities of persons planning and facilitating the
assessment, including data collection and analysis plan: We will most likely nominate one group member
as the moderator, one as the assistant, and have the other group members
organize the information from the focus group.
Introduction to our focus group with Youth
Move
Good evening and
welcome to our session. Thanks for
taking the time to join us to talk about mental health stigma among children
and adolescents. My name is ___ and
assisting me is ___. We are with the
University of Utah College of Social Work.
We are exploring what mental health stigma looks like for children and
adolescence, what are the effects and consequences of this stigma, and what are
possible solutions to remedy this problem. You were invited because you
all have a unique place of perspective to this issue, and are intimately
familiar with mental health stigma, and are active in addressing this
issue. We are hoping to pick your brains
and learn from all of you about mental health stigma. There are no wrong answers but rather
differing points of view. Please feel
free to share your point of view even if it differs from what others have said. We would like to audio record the session,
because we don't want to miss any of your comments. People often say very helpful things in these discussions
and we can't write fast enough to get them all down. Would you all feel comfortable with us
recording this session? We will not
allow anyone outside of our group to hear the recording of this focus group,
and we will erase the recording after we compile the information. We will be on a first name basis tonight, but
we will not use any names in our reports.
We assure complete confidentiality of all our your information. The report of tonight’s findings will be used
to pinpoint interventions that could be used to remedy this problem in some
form. Before we start, I want to again
remind you that your participation is voluntary, so if you are uncomfortable
with any of the questions, then you may choose not to answer any of the
questions. Does anyone have any
questions or concerns?
We've placed name
cards on the table in front of you to help us remember each other's names. Let's find out some more about each other by
going around the table. Tell us your
name, where you live, and how you came to be a part of Youth Move.
Questions for the focus group
1) How do you define mental
health stigma?
2) What does mental health
stigma look like for you in your daily life? (Follow-up question if needed:
What specific experiences stand out to you as shaping your view on mental
health stigma?)
3) How does mental health stigma
affect children? Please feel free to draw on your personal experience in
answering this question.
4) How have your relationships
been impacted by your diagnosis or by mental health stigma?
5) What are some things you (or
people in general) can do to address mental health stigma?
6) What are some things that you
have done to address or help reduce mental health stigma? (Follow up questions
if needed: What has worked? What hasn't worked?)
7) If you had a magic wand and
could completely eliminate mental health stigma, how would that look, and how
does that differ from how people are combating this problem already? OR If you
woke up tomorrow morning and a fairy godmother/godfather/god person had visited
you overnight and had erased mental health stigma from the world, what would be
different? (Or some variation of the miracle question...)
