Engaging communities to improve mental health in African and African Caribbean groups: a qualitative study evaluating the role of community well-being champions

Abstract

Over the last decade, Britain has undergone reforms to promote engagement in local structures of governance. These reforms have encouraged the promotion of active citizenship and have been central to the government's public service modernisation agenda. This article presents the findings from a study evaluating a pilot outreach intervention which adopted a community engagement model to address the mental health needs of African and African Caribbean groups, which entailed a partnership between faith‐based organisations, local public services and community organisations to co‐produce the pilot project. Lay people were trained to raise awareness about mental health among these communities in South London. Between 2012 and 2013, a qualitative participatory approach was used to evaluate the pilot project, which enabled a researcher to take part in the engagement phase of the pilot project, and the project co‐ordinators to be involved in the research process. Semi‐structured, one‐to‐one interviews were carried out with 13 community and well‐being champions (CWBCs) recruited from African and African Caribbean communities (seven male and six female). This study examines the impact of the relationship between the intervention and community through the participants’ engagement in the pilot outreach project and the action undertaken as champions. We found that although CWBCs used circles of influence to share ideas about mental health and well‐being and to encourage change, they encountered resistance on the part of the people they engaged with, which resulted from a lack of knowledge about mental health, taboos and ascribed stigma. We argue that CWBCs acted as healthy examples to communicate mental health knowledge to those approached, but that they needed to be equipped with bespoke communication skills to be able to talk about such sensitive issues as mental health.

Exploring the relationship between stigma and help‐seeking for mental illness in African‐descended faith communities in the UK

“…FBOs are trusted entities within many communities with histories of providing spiritual refuge and renewal. They have the potential to become bridges between the cultures of health care and different minority communities and thus bring about change by improving communication and information sharing . However, the failure of commissioners and service providers to establish effective partnerships with community groups means that these organizations remain an underutilized resource for tackling ethnically based mental health disparities.…”

“…We applied a purposive convenience sampling strategy to recruitment. Specifically, we drew participants from an existing sampling frame of African‐descended individuals taking part in an outreach intervention programme focused on promoting mental health in minority communities . The larger evaluation study directly involved community members in the delivery of the pilot project, which espoused an empowerment model whereby the local groups identified mental health needs, and mobilized themselves into action to address the recognized inequalities through employing and training Community Well Being Champions .…”

“…Specifically, we drew participants from an existing sampling frame of African‐descended individuals taking part in an outreach intervention programme focused on promoting mental health in minority communities . The larger evaluation study directly involved community members in the delivery of the pilot project, which espoused an empowerment model whereby the local groups identified mental health needs, and mobilized themselves into action to address the recognized inequalities through employing and training Community Well Being Champions . To obtain maximum variation within the sample, participants were selected to reflect key demographic characteristics such as gender, age range, ethnicity, literacy, understanding of English and role within the FBOs (faith leaders = FL; active members engaged in outreach work = AM; and regular attendees = RA).…”

The effectiveness of a health promotion intervention on the meaning of life, positive beliefs, and well-being among undergraduate nursing students

“…[ 44 ] Undergraduate nursing students share many ideas that are associated with mental health and well-being; therefore, they are encouraged to change their lifestyle to have well-being. [ 45 ] Therefore, the environment can influence social well-being and increase one's satisfaction with personal relationships and quality of life. [ 46 ]…”

Grupos comunitários juvenis: promoção da saúde mental e desenvolvimento de capacidades

“…Likewise, practices/interventions aimed at the promotion of physical activity have been identifi ed, activities such as swimming, tennis, soccer, basketball and cricket clubs (Hurley, Swann, Vella, Allen, & Okely, 2017); rounds, dance, tai-chi (Johnson, Robertson, Towey, Stewart-Brown, & Clarke, 2017) and guided walking groups (South et al, 2016); as well as interventions in religious institutions of different confessionals (Mantovani, Pizzolati, & Gillard, 2017;Shields-Zeeman et al, 2016;Sundar, Qureshi, & Galiatsatos, 2016).…”