Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of participants
| Coming Out Proud group (n = 50) |
Control group (n = 50) |
t-test | χ2 | P | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sociodemographic variables | |||||
| Age, years: mean (s.d.) | 42.9 (12.7) | 41.0 (9.8) | 0.82 | 0.41 | |
| Female, n (%) | 31 (62) | 28 (56) | 0.37 | 0.69 | |
| Ethnicity, White: n (%) | 49 (98) | 49 (98) | 0 | 1 | |
| Education, years: mean (s.d.) | 14.3 (2.7) | 15.1 (3.6) | –1.17 | 0.25 | |
| Living alone, n (%) | 32 (64) | 26 (52) | 1.48 | 0.31 | |
| Married or stable relationship, n (%) | 19 (38) | 17 (34) | 0.17 | 0.84 | |
| Born in Switzerland, n (%) | 42 (84) | 39 (78) | 0.59 | 0.61 | |
| Current disability benefits, n (%) | 26 (52) | 22 (44) | 0.64 | 0.55 | |
| Current competitive employment, n (%) | 11 (22) | 8 (16) | 0.59 | 0.61 | |
| Clinical and diagnostic variables | |||||
| Depressive symptoms, mean (s.d.)a | 2.3 (0.7) | 2.3 (0.7) | 0.21 | 0.84 | |
| Years since first diagnosis, mean (s.d.) | 14.1 (11.1) | 10.6 (10.6) | 1.62 | 0.11 | |
| Number of previous psychiatric in-patient treatments, mean (s.d.) | 3.4 (3.5) | 2.8 (3.1) | 0.98 | 0.33 | |
| Depressive disorder, n (%) | 28 (56) | 32 (64) | 0.67 | 0.54 | |
| Bipolar disorder, n (%) | 9 (18) | 11 (22) | 0.25 | 0.80 | |
| Schizophrenia spectrum disorder, n (%) | 16 (32) | 11 (22) | 1.27 | 0.37 | |
| Current psychiatric medication, n (%) | 46 (92) | 40 (80) | 2.99 | 0.15 | |
| Current counselling/psychotherapy, n (%) | 42 (84) | 44 (88) | 0.33 | 0.77 | |
| Disclosure | |||||
| Disclosed mental illness to friends and family, yes: n (%)b | 39 (78) | 38 (76) | 0.06 | 0.81 | |
| Disclose mental illness to people at work/school/training:c mean (s.d.) | 2.8 (2.0) | 2.7 (1.5) | –0.29 | 0.77 |
a.
Measured using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, German version.32
b.
Measured using the Coming Out with Mental Illness Scale.19
c.
Measured with one item: ‘At work, school, university or training, I tell . . . ’, rated from 1 (‘ . . . nobody about my mental illness and keep it as secret as I can’) to 7 (‘ . . . everybody about my mental illness and do not try to keep it a secret at all’); based on 81 participants, because 19 responded ‘not applicable’.