Well-being and perceptions of everyday activities among those who attend community-based day centres for people with mental illness in Sweden - Does an immigrant background make a difference?

Abstract

Community-based day centres (CBDCs) for people with mental illness are a common service for both people with an immigrant background and native Swedes. The aim was to compare CBDC attendees with an immigrant background with attendees who were native Swedes in terms of well-being and perceptions of everyday activities and investigate whether ethnic background could predict these factors. Attendees at nine CBDCs were invited to participate. In all, 56 with an immigrant background and 69 native Swedes completed self-report questionnaires that addressed various aspects of well-being and everyday activities. Attendees with an immigrant background had a worse situation regarding perceived self-esteem, empowerment and satisfaction with everyday activities. In multivariate logistic regression analyses, ethnic background only became a significant predictor in regard to empowerment. Quality of life and activity level were of importance for satisfaction with everyday activities. Empowerment and self-esteem mutually influenced each other. Having a mental illness and an immigrant background may infer a particular risk for low empowerment. The mental health services and society at large should consider measures for adjusting the support to this group, including an analysis of how environments and contexts may act as barriers to activity enrichment and culturally congruent support.