Feasibility and efficacy of a guided self-help intervention in supporting mental health professionals in making decisions about disclosure of their own mental health challenges

Pilot RCT to assess the feasibility and efficacy of the HOP-MHP guided self-help intervention compared to a wait-list control in reducing stigma stress and disclosure distress among mental health professionals with personal experiences of mental health challenges

Status

Active, not recruiting

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Interventional

Source

ISRCTN

Registry ID

ISRCTN18418155

Enrollment

Registered

2018-04-19

Start date

2017-09-20

Completion date

Unknown

Last updated

2021-10-18

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Mental health Mental and Behavioural Disorders

Interventions

HOP-MHP is an adaptation of the original Honest Open Proud (HOP) programme (http:// www.honestopenproud.org) manualised group intervention, developed by Corrigan et al. (2012), which c

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

All

Inclusion criteria

Inclusion criteria: 1. UK based mental health professional, whether qualified or currently in training, and not yet fully retired. 2. Participants must self-define as currently experiencing psychological, emotional and/or behavioural difficulties that have diminished their capacity for coping with the ordinary demands of life, or as having experienced such difficulties in the past. 3. They must have either not disclosed their experiences of mental health problems, or only in some settings. 4. Not at acute risk, defined as not having experienced thoughts that they would be better off dead or of hurting self in some way nearly every day.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion criteria: 1. Potential participants who are publicly ‘out’ about their current or past difficulties will not be eligible for the study. 2. Participants must be willing to complete the battery of standardised measures in order to take part in the research study, although they may leave individual items unanswered. 3. No personal experience of mental health problems 4. Fully retired from their post as a mental health service provider

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame
1.Stigma stress is measured using the Stigma Stress Scale (Rüsch et al, 2009), which measures the primary appraisal of stigma as harmful and the secondary appraisal of personal resources to cope with stigma. Outcomes will be measured at 3 time points in both the intervention and control group: baseline (T0), 4 to 6 weeks from baseline (T1), and 10 to 12 weeks from baseline (T2). Participants in the intervention arm complete the T1 measure after they have completed the 3 core HOP-MHP sessions, and the T2 measures after they have completed the booster session. Those who complete the core and booster sessions at a slower pace than intended will complete the outcome measures over a somewhat longer timeframe, of T1 up to 8 weeks from baseline and T2 up to 16 weeks from baseline.	—

Measure

Time frame

1.Stigma stress is measured using the Stigma Stress Scale (Rüsch et al, 2009), which measures the primary appraisal of stigma as harmful and the secondary appraisal of personal resources to cope with stigma. Outcomes will be measured at 3 time points in both the intervention and control group: baseline (T0), 4 to 6 weeks from baseline (T1), and 10 to 12 weeks from baseline (T2). Participants in the intervention arm complete the T1 measure after they have completed the 3 core HOP-MHP sessions, and the T2 measures after they have completed the booster session. Those who complete the core and booster sessions at a slower pace than intended will complete the outcome measures over a somewhat longer timeframe, of T1 up to 8 weeks from baseline and T2 up to 16 weeks from baseline.

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Secondary

Measure	Time frame
1. Disclosure related distress is measured using a 16 item scale that assesses distress about keeping mental health problems secret and fear of others finding out, in relation to eight different types of relationships: friend, family member, member of course staff (if still in training), clinical supervisor or manager, a colleague, health professional (for example during a routine medical appointment), client they are seeing, service user groups, derived from Rüsch et al.’s (2014) one item assessing disclosure related distress. 2. Depression is measured with the Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9) 3. Anxiety is measured using the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7 (GAD-7) questionnaire 4. Self-Stigma is measured using the Self-Stigma of Mental Illness Scale – Short Form (SSMIS-SF, Corrigan et al., 2011), adapted version with 15 items. 5. Secrecy is measured with the Secrecy Scale (Link et al., 1989), 9 items assessing an individual’s tendency to keep their own mental health difficulties a secret 6. Likelihood of future disclosure is assessed using a substantially adapted 16 item version of the 6-item Disclosure of Lived Experience scale (Rüsch et al., 2014) Outcomes will be measured at 3 time points in both the intervention and control group: baseline (T0), 4 to 6 weeks from baseline (T1), and 10 to 12 weeks from baseline (T2). Participants in the intervention arm complete the T1 measure after they have completed the 3 core HOP-MHP sessions, and the T2 measures after they have completed the booster session. Those who complete the core and booster sessions at a slower pace than intended will complete the outcome measures over a somewhat longer timeframe, of T1 up to 8 weeks from baseline and T2 up to 16 weeks from baseline.	—

Measure

Time frame

1. Disclosure related distress is measured using a 16 item scale that assesses distress about keeping mental health problems secret and fear of others finding out, in relation to eight different types of relationships: friend, family member, member of course staff (if still in training), clinical supervisor or manager, a colleague, health professional (for example during a routine medical appointment), client they are seeing, service user groups, derived from Rüsch et al.’s (2014) one item assessing disclosure related distress. 2. Depression is measured with the Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9) 3. Anxiety is measured using the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7 (GAD-7) questionnaire 4. Self-Stigma is measured using the Self-Stigma of Mental Illness Scale – Short Form (SSMIS-SF, Corrigan et al., 2011), adapted version with 15 items. 5. Secrecy is measured with the Secrecy Scale (Link et al., 1989), 9 items assessing an individual’s tendency to keep their own mental health difficulties a secret 6. Likelihood of future disclosure is assessed using a substantially adapted 16 item version of the 6-item Disclosure of Lived Experience scale (Rüsch et al., 2014) Outcomes will be measured at 3 time points in both the intervention and control group: baseline (T0), 4 to 6 weeks from baseline (T1), and 10 to 12 weeks from baseline (T2). Participants in the intervention arm complete the T1 measure after they have completed the 3 core HOP-MHP sessions, and the T2 measures after they have completed the booster session. Those who complete the core and booster sessions at a slower pace than intended will complete the outcome measures over a somewhat longer timeframe, of T1 up to 8 weeks from baseline and T2 up to 16 weeks from baseline.

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Countries

England, United Kingdom

Contacts

Public ContactKatrina Scior

k.scior@ucl.ac.uk+44 (0)207 6791605

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ISRCTN (via WHO ICTRP) · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026