scholarly journals Help-Seeking Attitudes and Distress Disclosure Among Syrian Refugees in Germany

2020 ◽  
pp. 001100002097493
Author(s):  
Pascal Schlechter ◽  
Svea Kamp ◽  
Katharina Wanninger ◽  
Judith Knausenberger ◽  
Ullrich Wagner ◽  
...  

Many refugees experience a wide range of mental health problems, but typically use mental health services less often than settled residents. Practical constraints like limited access to mental health care and language barriers largely account for this discrepancy. However, little is known about the psychological aspects explaining this difference in mental health service usage, like attitudes toward psychological help-seeking and the disclosure of distress. The present study compares German residents’ and Syrian refugees’ attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help ( N = 384). Refugees reported more depressive symptoms and functional impairment than residents. Crucially, refugees also held more negative attitudes toward professional psychological help-seeking than residents. These group differences in attitudes were to a large part mediated by distress disclosure. We conclude that it is important to achieve a thorough understanding of how to address help-seeking attitudes and to encourage distress disclosure to promote treatment of mental health issues among many refugees.

2005 ◽  
Vol 39 (6) ◽  
pp. 514-521 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Wrigley ◽  
Henry Jackson ◽  
Fiona Judd ◽  
Angela Komiti

Objective: To examine the role of perceived stigma and attitudes to seeking care in predicting help-seeking from a general practitioner (GP) for mental health problems. Method: Across-sectional surveyin 2002 with self-repor t questionnaires assessing current levels of symptomatology, disability, attitudes towards mental illness, knowledge of prevalence and causes of mental illness, contact with mental illness and help-seeking behaviour and preferences and attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help. Results: No significant relationship was found between symptom measures and measures of disability and help-seeking. Variables positively associated with general attitudes to seeking professional psychological help were: lower perceived stigma, and biological rather than person-based causal attributions for schizophrenia. Willingness to discuss mental health issues with a GP was predicted by the perceived helpfulness of the GP and by no other variable. Conclusions: Causal attributions and perceivedstigma rather than participants' levels of symptomatology and disability influence attitudes to help-seeking for mental health issues. Efforts to improve attitudes to help-seeking should focus on reducing stigma and improving mental health literacy regarding the causes of disorders.


2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Stefani Hathaway

Religion is an important diversity variable; however, it is an understudied area in psychology. The purpose of this study was to explore ways that religious factors interact with help-seeking attitudes as well as preferences for different help sources. Participants were 236 church members from 4 Christian groups. They completed religious measures, a help-seeking measure, and responses to mock brochures for traditional, nontraditional, and Christian mental health facilities. Both demographic and religious variables were found to predict help-seeking attitudes, although the relationships between help-seeking and religious predictors were less clear. Denominational differences were found in many of the religious variables. Several religious variables were related to the brochure responses, and the four denominations showed different patterns of preference for the brochures. Limitations and implications for practice and research are discussed.


2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 519 ◽  
Author(s):  
Feyza Seyfi ◽  
Krishna C Poudel ◽  
Junko Yasuoka ◽  
Keiko Otsuka ◽  
Masamine Jimba

2018 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
pp. 286-292 ◽  
Author(s):  
Subin Park ◽  
Mina Jeon ◽  
Yeeun Lee ◽  
Young-Mi Ko ◽  
Chul Eung Kim

Objectives: Identifying predictors of psychological help-seeking attitudes is essential to improve access to needed mental health services. We investigated factors – particularly Big Five personality traits – that affect attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help for mental illness among Korean adults. Methods: A total of 654 participants aged 15–54 years were recruited through an online panel survey. Help-seeking attitudes for mental illness were measured by the Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help Scale (ATSPPH), and personality traits were measured by the Big Five Personality Inventory-10. Results: Multivariate analyses showed that female gender, history of psychiatric diagnosis, agreeableness and openness to experience were significantly associated with positive attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help for mental illness. Conclusions: These findings suggest that specific personality traits should be considered when developing strategies to promote positive attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help. Further research using a representative community sample is needed to generalize our findings.


2009 ◽  
Vol 43 (9) ◽  
pp. 866-872 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy J. Morgan ◽  
Anthony F. Jorm

Objective: The aim of the present study was to investigate what news stories about mental illness are recalled by Australian youth and whether these are associated with stigma and help-seeking beliefs. Method: A random sample of 3746 Australian youth aged 12–25 years were interviewed about mental health literacy in 2006. As part of the interview, they were asked whether they could recall any news stories about mental health problems during the past 12 months. Stigma was assessed, as well as willingness to seek help for a mental illness described in a vignette. Common news story themes were entered as predictors of stigma components and willingness to seek help in a series of logistic regressions. Results: Only a minority of youth could recall a news story about mental illness. The most common stories recalled were those involving crime or violence; mental health system failures; or disclosures of mental illness by prominent individuals. Recall of a disclosure by a prominent individual was associated with beliefs that people with mental illness are sick rather than weak, while recall of a story involving crime or violence was associated with greater reluctance to tell anyone about a mental health problem. There were no types of stories that predicted willingness to seek help. Conclusions: There is some evidence that recall of positive or negative news stories is associated with specific components of stigma. Overall, however, recall of news stories about mental illness added little explanatory power to differences in stigma or help-seeking intentions.


Author(s):  
Chia-Min Lu ◽  
Yin-Ju Lien ◽  
Hsing-Jung Chao ◽  
Hui-Shin Lin ◽  
I-Chuan Tsai

Background: There is a high prevalence of mental illness among healthcare students, and most students with mental health problems are reluctant to seek help from mental health professionals. Help-seeking is a component of mental health literacy (MHL). Although MHL is conceptualized as multi-dimensional, a theory-based multi-construct of MHL is still lacking. We aimed to build a theory-based multi-construct of MHL to explore the pathways of help-seeking. Methods: The data were obtained from a survey on MHL among healthcare students in 2018 (n = 1294). The Mental Health Literacy Scale for Healthcare Students was used to measure the maintenance of positive mental health, recognition of mental illness, mental illness stigma attitudes, help-seeking efficacy, and help-seeking attitudes. Descriptive analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM) were conducted. Results: The findings of the SEM model indicated recognition of mental illness had a positive direct effect on both help-seeking efficacy and maintenance of positive mental health. Additionally, help-seeking efficacy fully mediated the relationship between recognition of mental illness and help-seeking attitudes. Conclusions: Help-seeking efficacy plays a significant role in healthcare students’ willingness to seek professional help when mental health care is needed. Accordingly, improving help-seeking efficacy strategies would increase the use of mental health services and contribute to the prevention of mental health problems.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hui Zhang ◽  
Hong Su ◽  
Dongxue Wang ◽  
Lining Wang ◽  
Yunjiang Cai ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Since December 2019, an increasing number of cases named Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) have been identified in Wuhan, China. It has widely and rapidly spread in China and several other countries. The public experienced mental health problems during home quarantine.Methods:From Feb 17 to 20, 2020, a questionnaire star survey was used to evaluate the psychological distress / psychological help-seeking attitudes and behavior of 3,248 people over 18 years old who were quarantined at home, all the subjects filled out the questionnaires, including general information questionnaire, Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K-10),Attitudes Toward Seeking Mental Health and Psychological help-seeking behavior items.Results:3,248 individuals were enrolled, and the score of psychological distress scale was 15·93±6·99, the score of psychological help seeking was 82·34 ±13·04. Among the socio-economic factors, age was positively associated with the psychological distress(t=5·60,P<0·05) and attitudes toward seeking mental health(t=-3·380,P<0·05); the level of income were negatively associated with psychological distress(t=-2·609,P<0·05) and attitudes toward seeking mental health(t=-2·762,P<0·05); occupation were negatively associated with the level of psychological distress(t=-2·842,P<0·05); gender and the level of education were positively associated with the level of attitudes toward seeking mental health(t=6·355,P<0·05;t=3·780,P<0·05); marital status were negatively associated with the level of attitudes toward seeking mental health(t=-3·455,P<0·05).Conclusions: Widowed, rural residents, people with low level of education and economic income should be the focus of COVID-19’s mental health maintenance, and making good use of media and internet tools to strengthen publicity is one of the key points of current prevention and control.


2009 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 38-45
Author(s):  
Evan Kemp ◽  
Candice P. Boyd ◽  
Damon Aisbett ◽  
Lisa Harvie ◽  
Kirra Caldwell

The present study provided rural adolescent males who might otherwise not seek professional psychological help with an innovative program, based on physical activity, which would link them into a wider sporting community. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the program in bringing about improvements in various areas of participants' mental health.Participants were ten males ranging in age from 15 to 18 years residing in and around the Ballarat area. They were recruited in consultation with the coordinator of the YouthTracks @ TAFE program at the University of Ballarat and were identified as being at-risk of developing mental health problems. Results suggested that participation in the program contributed to statistically significant improvements in some aspects of the participants' mental health. Furthermore, participants reported an enjoyment of mountainboarding and described the difference the program has made to their lives. Findings of this study provide preliminary support for the mental health and social gains potentially obtained when rural youth are engaged in an innovative and enjoyable physical activity program.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document