Meeting the Needs of Older Adults with Mental Ill-Health in Non-Psychiatric Care Settings: Self-Rated Confidence in Helping and its Co-Variates within a Multiprofessional Study Sample

Abstract

In this paper we sought to explore health and social care professionals’ self-rated confidence in helping older adults with mental ill-health in non-psychiatric care settings. A cross-sectional survey study was performed exploring the participants’ (n = 480) confidence in helping. Confidence in helping was analyzed together with background characteristics and selected explanatory variables, such as the workplace and work experience of the participants, their personal experiences of and attitudes to mental ill-health, as well as their knowledge in mental ill-health among older adults, by means of descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis. We found that approximately half (55%) of the participants were confident in helping older adults with mental ill-health. The odds ratios for being confident in helping were significantly associated to the workplace of the professionals, professionals’ attitude to and experience of mental ill-health, and knowledge of mental health among older adults. To increase confidence in helping older adults with mental ill-health, we recommend confidence-building interventions, for example, educational programs, through which knowledge of mental health among older adults is increased and negative attitudes are challenged, especially within the context of specialist somatic healthcare.