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BMC Psychiatry
Published in: BMC Psychiatry 1/2020

Open Access 01-12-2020 | Mood Disorders | Research article

Influences on participation in a programme addressing loneliness among people with depression and anxiety: findings from the Community Navigator Study

Authors: Johanna Frerichs, Jo Billings, Nick Barber, Anjie Chhapia, Beverley Chipp, Prisha Shah, Anna Shorten, Theodora Stefanidou, Sonia Johnson, Brynmor Lloyd Evans, Vanessa Pinfold

Published in: BMC Psychiatry | Issue 1/2020

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Abstract

Background

Loneliness is associated with negative outcomes, including increased mortality and is common among people with mental health problems. This qualitative study, which was carried out as part of a feasibility trial, aimed to understand what enables and hinders people with severe depression and/or anxiety under the care of secondary mental health services in the United Kingdom to participate in the Community Navigator programme, and make progress with feelings of depression, anxiety and loneliness. The programme consisted of up to ten meetings with a Community Navigator and three optional group sessions.

Methods

Semi-structured interviews were carried out with participants (n = 19) shortly after programme completion. A co-produced two-stage qualitative approach, involving narrative and reflexive thematic analysis, was undertaken by members of the study’s working group, which included experts by experience, clinicians and researchers.

Results

The narrative analysis showed that individuals have varied goals, hold mixed feelings about meeting other people and define progress differently. From the thematic analysis, six themes were identified that explained facilitators and challenges to participating in the programme: desire to connect with others; individual social confidence; finding something meaningful to do; the accessibility of resources locally; the timing of the programme; and the participant’s relationship with the Community Navigator.

Conclusions

We found that people with severe depression and/or anxiety supported by secondary mental health services may want to address feelings of loneliness but find it emotionally effortful to do so and a major personal challenge. This emotional effort, which manifests in individuals differently, can make it hard for participants to engage with a loneliness programme, though it was through facing personal challenges that a significant sense of achievement was felt. Factors at the individual, interpersonal and structural level, that enable or hinder an individual’s participation should be identified early, so that people are able to make the best use out of the Community Navigator or other similar programmes.
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Metadata
Title
Influences on participation in a programme addressing loneliness among people with depression and anxiety: findings from the Community Navigator Study
Authors
Johanna Frerichs
Jo Billings
Nick Barber
Anjie Chhapia
Beverley Chipp
Prisha Shah
Anna Shorten
Theodora Stefanidou
Sonia Johnson
Brynmor Lloyd Evans
Vanessa Pinfold
Publication date
01-12-2020
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Psychiatry / Issue 1/2020
Electronic ISSN: 1471-244X
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-020-02961-x

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