EDB Consultancy, London, UK.
UEL and Queen Mary, University of London, UK.
Int J Soc Psychiatry. 2023 Jun;69(4):1043-1050. doi: 10.1177/00207640221139798. Epub 2023 Jan 6.
Financial inequalities appear to be increasing and poverty is becoming ubiquitous. Poverty affects mental health but its impact on mental health and wellbeing is rarely highlighted within health research.
The Covid-19 pandemic, the Ukrainian invasion and other international and national events have led to a cost-of-living crisis for many people. This is likely to lead to an increase in related referrals and therefore active consideration of the relevant issues relating to poverty appears vital. This paper reports a study which sought to understand how therapists experienced their work with clients who self-refer due to living in poverty.
Eight therapists participated in semi-structured interviews analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA).
Three superordinate themes were elicited: firstly 'Resilience in the struggle to engage with therapeutic work', secondly 'Struggling to promote social activism' and thirdly, 'Navigating multiple challenges and barriers'. Each superordinate theme contains two or three sub themes.
Issues of structural inequality (including but not limited to poverty) impact significantly on people's lives but are often ignored or minimised in therapeutic work. It is important that therapists are aware of poverty and take this into account when working with clients.
财务不平等似乎在加剧，贫困也变得普遍存在。贫困会影响心理健康，但在健康研究中，很少有人强调贫困对心理健康和幸福感的影响。
新冠疫情、乌克兰战争以及其他国际和国内事件导致许多人陷入生活成本危机。这可能会导致相关转介的增加，因此积极考虑与贫困相关的问题显得至关重要。本文报告了一项研究，旨在了解治疗师在与因贫困而自我转介的客户合作时的体验。
8 名治疗师参与了半结构化访谈，使用解释现象学分析（IPA）进行分析。
得出了三个主要主题：首先是“在努力参与治疗工作中的韧性”，其次是“努力促进社会行动主义”，第三是“应对多重挑战和障碍”。每个主要主题都包含两个或三个子主题。
结构性不平等（包括但不限于贫困）问题对人们的生活有重大影响，但在治疗工作中往往被忽视或最小化。治疗师意识到贫困并在与客户合作时考虑到这一点非常重要。
