Gender issues for people with intellectual disabilities and mental health problems: asking what service users and staff think
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/AMHID-03-2013-0021 |
| Published date | 12 July 2013 |
| Pages | 181-190 |
| Date | 12 July 2013 |
| Author | Biza Stenfert Kroese,John Rose,Kuljit Heer,Alexis O’Brien |
| Subject Matter | Education,Health & social care |
Gender issues for people with intellectual
disabilities and mental health problems:
asking what service users and staff think
Biza Stenfert Kroese, John Rose, Kuljit Heer and Alexis O’Brien
Biza Stenfert Kroese is a Senior
Lecturer and Consultant
Clinical Psychologist,
John Rose is a Senior Lecturer
and Consultant Clinical
Psychologist and
Kuljit Heer is a PhD student, all
at the School of Psychology,
Birmingham University,
Birmingham, UK.
Alexis O’Brien is a Clinical
Psychologist in the Department
of Clinical Psychology at South
Staffordshire and Shropshire
NHS Foundation Trust,
Stafford, UK.
Abstract
Purpose – The current qualitative study aims to investigate service users’, support staff’s and community
team members’ views of gender differences in cause and presentation of mental health problems, whether
current services respond differently to men and women with mental health problems and areas in which
services can become more gender sensitive.
Design/methodology/approach – Twofocus groups were conducted with service users with intellectual
disabilities and mental health problems in addition to two focus groups with a variety of staff. Subsequently,
individual interviews were conducted with both male and female staff members employed in residential and
community intellectual disability services. The number of participants totalled 54 (16 service users and
38 staff). Thematic analysis was adopted in order to identify dominant themes in the discourse of these
stakeholder groups.
Findings – The analysis produced a number of themes which include: compliance versus challenge;
vulnerability; expression of emotion; gender equality; same sex support; caring qualities; and boundaries.
Originality/value – A number of suggestions for improving services are discussed in the context of the
current findings.
Keywords Mental health, Gender, Focus groups, Qualitative research, Mental health services
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Gender and mental health
In the general population large gender differences are observed in the prevalence of the most
frequently reported mental health problems such as depression, anxiety and somaticsymptoms
(World Health Organisation (WHO) and International Consortium of Psychiatric Epidemiology,
2000). One of the most robust epidemiological findings in mental health studies is that in most
countries depression is suffered more by women (Piccinelli and Homen, 1997), for whom the
condition is more persistent (Bracke, 2000) and has a higher incidence of relapse than for men
(Kuehner, 1999). Women are also more likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder
(PTSD) (Kessler et al., 1995). Alcohol dependence and antisocial personality disorder, on the
other hand, are more likely to be diagnosed in men (Kessler et al., 1994).
The World Health Organisation (WHO) and Department of Mental Health Substance
Dependence (2006) document “Gender disparities in mental health” stresses the importance
of socio-economic determinants in explaining gender differences in mental health across the
globe. For depression and anxiety these include lack of access to resources such as pay and
property, status, valued roles and options for self-expression and personal development.
Women are said to be the largest group of people affected by PTSD as traditional gender roles
engender women to be passive and dependent and domestic violence and sexual abuse are
DOI 10.1108/AMHID-03-2013-0021 VOL. 7 NO. 4 2013, pp. 181-190, CEmerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 2044-1282
j
ADVANCES IN MENTAL HEALTH AND INTELLECTUAL DISA BILITIES
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