SINGAPOREAN YOUTHS’ PERSPECTIVE TOWARDS MENTAL ILLNESS: A DESCRIPTIVE QUALITATIVE STUDY

Abstract

Background Many people still regard mental health as a taboo subject perpetuated with society’s negative mindset leading to the discrimination faced by people with mental health condition. This in turn, results in the delayed help-seeking behaviour exhibited by the people with mental health conditions. Although previous studies had demonstrated age, gender, knowledge and ethnicity as factors affecting an individual’s perception to mental illness, such studies incorporated participants with a wide age range leading to a vague and superficial understanding of perceptions held by youths and working adults. Aim This study aimed to explore youths’ perceptions towards people with mental health conditions in Singapore. Methods A total of 22 youths participated in this descriptive qualitative study where one-on-one interviews were conducted with semi-structured questions. Data saturation was used to determine the sample size required. The interviews were transcribed and analysed using the Braun and Clark’s six-steps thematic analysis. Results Four distinctive themes were identified from this study namely: (1) Am I abnormal to the society?, (2) I am not my illness, (3) Holding the family together and (4) To be continued. Results suggested that stigmatization on people with mental health conditions were primarily due to the perceived failure in meeting the society’s standards of normalcy, the internalised stigma of the mentally ill, the struggles of the affected families and the unfavourable outcomes from current mental health awareness campaigns. Conclusion Media portrayal, the competitiveness nature of Singaporeans, deep-rooted mind-set of the older generation and the influence of ethnicity and religion were the common factors cited by many participants that influenced Singaporean’s views towards mental illness. Persistent discrimination and stigma were also described to lower the self-esteem and motivation of the mentally ill as well as increase the caregiver stress of the families.