Creating Welcoming Faith Communities for People With Serious Mental Illnesses

Researchers will evaluate inclusionary practices done in the congregation (e.g. create an intake form for new members). There might be up to 50 different practices. The number of practices will vary by congregation. Each practice will measured as being done or not (yes or no). A greater number of "yes" responses will indicate greater inclusionary practices.

These questions are only being given to everyone who took the survey including those who report they do not have a mental illness, those that report that they do, and those that report that they have a family member with a mental illness. There are 32 statements related to organizational processes and respondent experiences with inclusion in their congregation. There are an additional three statements specifically for those with family members with mental illness. The response options are yes, no, and I don't know. A greater number of "yes" responses would indicate a greater number of inclusionary practices and greater inclusive experiences and "no" or "I don't know" would indicate the opposite.

These questions are only being given to participants who report that they do not mental illness. It consists of 6 statements related to knowledge about treatments and outcomes for individuals with mental illness. Response options range from strongly agree (6) to strongly disagree (1) on a 6-point scale. Stronger agreement or higher scores across statements indicates a higher level of knowledge about mental illness and a stronger disagreement or lower scores indicates less knowledge about mental illness.

These questions are only being given to participants who report that they do not mental illness. This measure assesses participants's comfort level in being around people with mental illness. It was modified to include measures directly related to faith communities (e.g., would you feel comfortable having someone with a serious mental illness as a member of your congregation). There are 7 questions with response options that vary from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (6) on a 6-point scale. Stronger agreement or higher scores indicate a higher level of comfort with people with mental illness and stronger disagreement or lower scores indicate a lower level of comfort with people with mental illness.

These questions are only being given to participants who report that they do not mental illness. There are 4 statements related to attitudes toward people with mental illness from this measure. The response options for each statement range from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (6) on a 6-point scale. Stronger agreement or higher scores across all questions indicate more negative attitudes toward those with mentally illness and stronger disagreement or lower scores (1) across all questions indicates more positive attitudes toward those with mental illness.

These questions are only being given to participants who report that they do not mental illness. The measure is divided into two parts. The first 4 questions ask about the participants current experiences with people with mental illness. Response options include "yes" or "no, or not that I know of". A greater number of yes responses indicates more experience with individuals with mental illness. The second part includes 4 questions asking about a person's willingness to include people with mental illnesses in their life. The response options are from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (6) on a 6-point scale with stronger agreement or higher scores on each question indicating a greater willingness to associate with or include or have people with mental illnesses in their life in the future. Stronger disagreement or lower scores across questions indicates less willingness to associate with or include people with mental illnesses in their lives.

These 10 questions are only being given to participants who report having a mental illness or a family member with a mental illness. The questions ask participants the degree to which they feel welcomed and that they belong in a given environment. For this study that environment was their congregation. Response options range from strongly agree to strongly disagree on a 6-point scale. Stronger agreement or higher scores (6) on questions 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9 , and 10 and stronger disagreement (1) or lower scores on questions 1, 5, and 6 indicate a greater sense of belonging. Stronger disagreement (1) or lower scores to questions 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, and 10 and stronger agreement (6) or higher scores to questions 1, 5, and 6 indicate less of a sense of belonging.

These 3 questions are only being given to participants who report having a mental illness. The questions related to how often participants feel socially isolated or lonely. Response options range from 1) hardly ever, 2) some of the time, and 3) often. Responses (3) indicate increased loneliness and more "hardly ever" responses indicate less loneliness.

This measure is only presented to people who report having a mental illness. Only the first question from this scale is being asked as it correlates well to other items on the interview related to overall quality of life. The one question asks participants "how do you feel about your life in general?" Response options vary from terrible to delighted on a 7-point scale. Responses closer to 7 (delighted) indicate greater perceived quality of life and responses closer to 1 (terrible) indicate lower perceived quality of life.