(PS8-16) Preference for Support in People Who Have Severe Mental Illness: A Study in Partnership with the National Alliance on Mental Illness

People with severe and persistent mental illnesses often have high needs for resources, support, and treatment. The people in their lives can play a role both by providing support and by facilitating formal help-seeking; however, this is a double-edged sword as sometimes informal resources such as family and friends are not able to appropriately support their loved ones due to lack of knowledge or their own resources. Understanding available support sources and use of formal mental health resources is important for adequately supporting those who need the most mental health support.

The current study evaluates the support systems of people with severe mental illness, and is based on data from a survey of 323 participants (85% female, 81% white, 4% Black, 4% Latinx) who were all members of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. An online survey was conducted that was sent to all members of NAMI North Carolina and also sent out to NAMI members nationally through social media. The survey asked participants about the type of resources they would ideally like to use, the primary person that they actually go to for mental health support, the types of support that they perceive to be provided to them, and the types of formal help-seeking that they have completed related to their mental health. The study was exploratory to hear major thoughts and concerns from NAMI members with lived experience of significant mental health concerns. Types of help-seeking and types of support were listed as forced choice options, and support people were recorded as open-ended responses and coded by two authors simply to clarify category of relationship to the participant (i.e. parent, partner, friend, etc). Analyses sought to investigate what types of support participants prefer vs. what kind of support they feel that they receive, and also to investigate the relationship between perceived support and formal help-seeking.

When asked who their top three ideal/preferred sources of support were, participants endorsed therapy (56.5%), partner (41.12%), and psychiatry (39.83%). When asked who their top primary support person was, participants reported partners as the overall top choice (35.22%), followed by therapists (21.38%), and more senior family members (11.64%). Participants reported on 4 types of support, including: emotional/informational, tangible, affectionate, and positive social interaction. Of the four types, only emotional/informational support was related to increased use of formal resources. These findings suggest that individuals with severe mental illnesses usually seek help, support, and care from their partner and have significant interest in formal supports. Findings also underscore the importance of emotional support even over practical offers for help. Both social support from loved ones as well as getting into and staying in effective treatments are essential components of treatment planning and recovery, and thus it is important to understand these aspects of support and pathways to treatment. Discussion of community partnership with local and national NAMI organizations will also be discussed.