PSA: THE BIGGER PICTURE
MENTAL WELLBEING: QUESTIONS, ANSWERS, ACTIONS The PSA’s Andy Lenthall delves into the facts and figures behind mental wellbeing in the industry.
Research, it has been said, is like a lamp post; some people use it to lean on, while others use it for illumination. When it comes to mental health, we’ve all been charging ahead with well-meaning initiatives, most of which already exist and simply required adoption by our industry. We’ve also looked to the pioneers, the exemplars who have improved their approach and are more than willing to share ideas. Something that we hadn’t really done is research the people in our industry to see if there’s more we could or should be doing, or if we could just lean on a lamp post and watch things improve. Back in September, at PLASA London, we joined together with PLASA, ALD, ISD and ABTT to launch a co-funded research project into mental wellbeing amongst backstage workers. The response was fantastic; more than 1,300 completed questionnaires, with PSA members providing the most completed questionnaires. The data, presented to Dr Paul Hanna, Senior Lecturer and Research Director in Clinical Psychology at the University of Surrey, was developed into a report and a series of recommendations. The main aims for the project were to evaluate the prevalence of mental health issues, assess perceptions of working conditions and mental health, appraise mental health attitudes and stigma and establish perceptions of support for mental health problems, all within the context of the industry. The first point to address is that, when asking a group to
complete a survey, you can expect a greater level of response from people with a personal interest in the subject matter. The working group behind the survey decided to divide results between those stating that they currently, or have previously, had a mental health problem and those who didn’t. That figure was 58.7% of responders – far higher than NHS figures at 25% average over the general population. Concerning, too, is the 71.1% of females reporting a current or previous problem. Vested interest, and the proportion of female responders (26.7%) may account for some of the disparity, but the figure is still found to be statistically significant. Looking at the PSA’s workforce survey, the shocking 90+% male dominance is perhaps a contributing factor, both to the response ratio by gender and the disproportionately high prevalence of problems amongst female workers. Of those issues reported, depression and anxiety made up the majority, 50.7% and 26.9% respectively. Over 90% of responders were in the 18 to 54 age bracket, with reported problems in the majority between 18 and 44 age groups. This seems to correlate with the worrying national statistic that mental health issues are the biggest killer of males in that age group. Setting aside the need to address the gender balance in our workforce, a predominantly male demographic in the age range at most risk does suggest that we are right in making efforts to improve our approach. Do 80
