Mental health Burden of Increased Living costs: Local Support (My BILLS)
Principal investigators: Dr. Dianna Smith, Associate Professor, School of Geography and Environmental Science, University of Southampton and Dr Thomas Richardson, Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology, School of Psychology, University of Southampton.
Co-investigator: Prof Nisreen Alwan, Associate Professor in Public Health, School of Medicine, University of Southampton.
Team: Dr Monica Sood, Dr Elizabeth Taylor, Tina Lang (PPI), Beth Davies (NHS), Sarah Brightwell (Solent Mind), Sandy Bramley (Portsmouth Citizens Advice)
Partners: Solent Mind, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Mental Health NHS Trust (Formerly Southern health, IOW and Solent NHS Trusts, ITalk, Talking Change), Southampton & Portsmouth city councils, Hampshire County Council, Portsmouth Citizens Advice.
Start: 01/01/2023
End: 30/09/2024
What did we find out?
We found that people who were more worried about the cost of living had worse symptoms of depression and anxiety. However, these worries did not cause their symptoms to get better or worse over time.
Interviews with staff and service users showed that financial stress caused feelings of hopelessness and frustration. Many people found it harder to get the health care they needed because of money problems. The cost-of-living crisis also increased pressure on the NHS and its staff.
Those who are having therapy for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder don’t benefit as much if they live in a deprived neighborhood.
An analysis of 86,000 NHS Talking Therapies referrals from 2021 to 2023 is ongoing.
What did we do with this Knowledge?
Qualitative interviews have given practical suggestions to improve the link between financial and money advice support locally.
Quantitative analysis is ongoing and will be published soon.
What are we doing next?
Conference presentations have been completed
2 Papers published
2 papers under review.
Working on submitting several other papers from the findings for publication.
Feeding back results to stakeholders.
Publications
