Open AccessLast Bastion Nevermore! A Qualitative Exploration of the Australian Government’s Fifth National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Plan from the Perspective of Lessening Mental Stigma and Sanism in the Workplace
Author(s) -
Damian Mellifont
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
studies in social justice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.213
H-Index - 14
ISSN - 1911-4788
DOI - 10.26522/ssj.v13i2.1836
Subject(s) - mental health , stigma (botany) , workforce , inclusion (mineral) , public relations , qualitative research , government (linguistics) , focus group , psychology , political science , nursing , medicine , sociology , social psychology , psychiatry , social science , law , linguistics , philosophy , anthropology
The need to advance mental health through greater levels of social and economic inclusion represents a pressing policy issue. Within Australia, this policy focus has been progressed at a national level. This exploratory study aims to critically investigate The Fifth National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Plan in terms of its potential to help reduce mental stigma and discrimination within Australian workplaces. Qualitative content analysis was applied to the national policy document as well as to 12 academic texts retrieved from a Google Scholar search and meeting inclusion criteria. Stage one of the content analysis process revealed themes of representation, education, research, and activism, while stage two added those of language, legal, and media. This study posits that workplace anti-mental stigma and sanism measures as identified within the Plan are limited in the sense that they represent only a subset of those currently available. This research also supports the prospect of these measures operating in a collaborative manner. Finally, it is proposed that potential exists throughout Australian workplaces to implement stigma and sanism reduction measures that specifically target the health and peer workforce.