Logo image
Terminology preferences in mental health
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Terminology preferences in mental health

A.S. Lyon and S.M. Mortimer-Jones
Issues in Mental Health Nursing, Vol.41(6), pp.515-524
2020
url
Link to Published Version *Subscription may be requiredView

Abstract

People with a mental illness may be exposed to stigma which, when internalised, negatively influences self-esteem, personal goal attainment and quality of life. Avoiding the use of stigmatising language and using terminology that does not exclude the positive characteristics of the individual may play an important role in challenging stigma. This study involved a mixed method approach to identify the terminology preferences of people with a mental illness in Australia. N = 173 participants were recruited via convenience sampling. The humanistic terms ‘individual’ and ‘person with lived experience’ were identified as the preferred terms. Qualitatively there was a wide variation in how the terms made the respondents think or feel, with only one of the terms – ‘survivor,’ having solely negative themes. When contrasting the two most commonly used clinical terms, ‘client’ was significantly preferred to ‘patient’. The term ‘consumer’ was one of the least preferred terms. This suggests that the use of this term, which is in regular use in Australia, should be reconsidered.

Details

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#3 Good Health and Well-Being
#6 Clean Water and Sanitation
#11 Sustainable Cities and Communities
#13 Climate Action
#14 Life Below Water
#15 Life on Land
#16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

Source: InCites

Metrics

InCites Highlights

These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output

Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
Citation topics
6 Social Sciences
6.153 Climate Change
6.153.2432 Climate Security
Web Of Science research areas
Nursing
Psychiatry
ESI research areas
Clinical Medicine
Logo image