Exploring the relationships between illness beliefs and psychosis symptoms among Black African and Caribbean people with non-affective psychosis

ABSTRACT

Background

Black African and Caribbean people in the UK have the highest rates of diagnosis with Psychosis. Compared with other ethnic groups, their contact with mental health services is characterised by inferior access, care experiences, and outcomes. Previous research suggests that beliefs about mental health problems may influence emotional responses, coping behaviours and outcomes in psychosis.

Method

The study examined the causal attributions and illness perceptions of 51 Black African and Caribbean people with non-affective psychosis and their associations with psychosis symptoms, using the Positive and Negative Syndrome S and the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire.

Results

Black service users with non-affective psychosis most frequently attributed mental health problems to psychosocial factors, though spiritual, biological and substance abuse explanations were also provided. Endorsing a psychosocial explanation for psychosis was associated with less severe negative symptoms. More negative or threatening illness perceptions were correlated with greater negative, general and overall symptom severity in psychosis.

Conclusions

Psychological formulations and interventions for Black people experiencing psychosis should consider personalised beliefs about their mental health problems as this may facilitate improvements in symptoms. Further longitudinal research is warranted in larger samples to examine psychological causal mechanisms linking illness beliefs and psychosis outcomes.

KEYWORDS:

• Black African
• Black Caribbean
• psychosis
• illness perceptions
• causal attributions

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institute for Health Research, Health Service and Delivery Research Programme Grant [REF: 12/5001/62].