scholarly journals The potential impact of an anti-stigma intervention on mental health help-seeking attitudes among university students

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shazana Shahwan ◽  
Jue Hua Lau ◽  
Chong Min Janrius Goh ◽  
Wei Jie Ong ◽  
Gregory Tee Hng Tan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
University Students ◽  
Help Seeking ◽  
Mental Health Field ◽  
Post Intervention ◽  
Help Seeking Attitudes ◽  
Potential Impact ◽  
Health Field

Abstract Background The reluctance of young adults to seek mental health treatment has been attributed to poor mental health literacy, stigma, preference for self-reliance and concerns about confidentiality. The purpose of this study was to examine the potential impact of an anti-stigma intervention that includes education about depression, information about help-seeking as well as contact with a person with lived experience, on help seeking attitudes. Methods A pre-post study design was employed. Changes in help-seeking attitudes were measured using the Inventory of Attitudes towards Seeking Mental Health Services (IASMHS) immediately post-intervention and after 3 months. Sociodemographic data, information on past experiences in the mental health field and contact with people with mental illness were collated. Three hundred ninety university students enrolled in the study. Linear mixed models were used to examine the effects of the intervention. Results Scores on all subscales of the IASMHS, Psychological Openness (PO), Help-seeking Propensity (HP) and Indifference to Stigma improved significantly post-intervention and at 3-month follow-up compared to pre-intervention, with HP demonstrating the highest effect size. However, a significant decline was observed on all three scales at 3-month follow-up compared to post-intervention. Gender, having friends/family with mental illness, and previous experience in the mental health field moderated the intervention effects for the PO and HP subscales. Conclusion The study showed that the brief anti-stigma intervention was associated with improvements in help-seeking attitudes among university students with differential effects among certain sub-groups. As the beneficial outcomes appeared to decrease over time, booster sessions or opportunities to participate in mental health-related activities post-intervention may be required to maintain the desired changes in help-seeking attitudes.

scholarly journals Recognition of Depression and Help-Seeking Preference Among University Students in Singapore: An Evaluation of the Impact of Advancing Research to Eliminate Mental Illness Stigma an Education and Contact Intervention

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory Tee Hng Tan ◽  
Shazana Shahwan ◽  
Edimansyah Abdin ◽  
Jue Hua Lau ◽  
Chong Min Janrius Goh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Illness ◽  
University Students ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Help Seeking ◽  
Psychological Help ◽  
Mental Illness Stigma ◽  
Personal Contact ◽  
Post Intervention ◽  
The Impact

Background: The SMHS 2016 revealed that young adults in Singapore had the highest 12-month prevalence of mental disorders, with depression being the most prevalent condition. Additionally, the study found that those with higher education were less likely to seek treatment. The recognition of mental illness and knowledge of where to seek help has been found to influence one's ability to seek timely psychological help. This study thus aims to evaluate the effects of ARTEMIS, an education and contact intervention on university students' recognition of depression and help-seeking preference.Methods: A total of 390 university students were recruited over a period of 6-months (October 2018 to April 2019). Students had to attend a one-off intervention which comprised a lecture on depression and personal contact with a person with lived experience of mental illness. Recognition of depression and help-seeking preference were assessed using a vignette approach, at pre- and post-intervention as well as at 3-month follow-up.Results: The intervention was effective at improving student's recognition of depression and this effect was sustained at 3-months follow-up. The intervention was also effective in shifting student's help-seeking preference, although the effects were not sustained at 3-month follow-up. Having a close friend or family with mental illness was associated with better recognition, and being able to correctly recognize depression was linked to a preference to seek psychiatric over non-psychiatric help.Conclusion: This study elucidated the efficacy of a knowledge-contact-based intervention in improving university students' recognition of depression and help-seeking preference. However, while the benefits on recognition of depression is more enduring, it is more transient for help-seeking beliefs, and booster sessions may be needed to improve the long-term effectiveness of the intervention on help-seeking preference. Lastly, to investigate the generalizability of this study's findings, future studies could replicate the current one across other non-self-selected samples, such as by integrating the intervention as part of student's orientation.

scholarly journals Time Waits for No One: Longitudinal Study on the Effects of an Anti-Stigma Seminar on the Psychology Student Population

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (10) ◽  
pp. 5441
Author(s):  
Luca Pingani ◽  
Sara Evans-Lacko ◽  
Sandra Coriani ◽  
Silvia Ferrari ◽  
Maria Filosa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Student Population ◽  
Post Intervention ◽  
People With Mental Illness ◽  
T1 And T2 ◽  
One Year ◽  
Intended Behaviour

The primary aim is to describe the changes in the knowledge of mental health conditions, the attitudes toward the mentally ill, and the intended behaviour towards people with mental illness among the entire student population of the third year of a degree course in Psychology. A total of 570 students attended a seminar on stigma towards mental illness and were invited to complete an online survey which collected data on sociodemographic characteristics and three validated questionnaires evaluating different aspects of stigma at three different time points (pre-intervention, post-intervention, and at one year follow up). A total of 253 students (44.39%) completed the questionnaires at t0, t1, and t2. The mean age of the sample was 23.7 (SD = ±5.89), and 86.96% (n = 220) were females. Between t0 and t1, a statistically significant improvement was observed for all three outcomes, while the intended behaviour outcome was no longer significant between t1 and t2 (Z = −0.70; p = 0.48). Females and who participated live at the seminar maintained a significant knowledge of mental illness and a better attitude toward community mental health care. The effects of the seminar focused on reducing stigma tended to diminish over time at one year follow-up, particular in relation to intended behaviour.

scholarly journals Licensing and Physician Mental Health: Problems and Possibilities

2007 ◽  
Vol 93 (2) ◽  
pp. 6-11
Author(s):  
Herbert Hendin ◽  
Charles Reynolds ◽  
Dan Fox ◽  
Steven I. Altchuler ◽  
Phillip Rodgers ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Medical Care ◽  
Help Seeking ◽  
Psychiatric Care ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Seeking Help ◽  
Medical License

ABSTRACT A number of factors appear to discourage physicians from seeking help for mental illness. This reluctance may be exacerbated by fears – well-founded or imagined – that by seeking help, physicians may put their medical license in jeopardy. To examine this risk, an analysis of all state medical board (SMB) license applications was followed by a seven-item survey mailed to SMB executive directors, and 70 percent responded. Follow up interviews were conducted with a sample of those not responding and also with a small group of directors whose responses were problematic. Thirteen of the 35 SMBs responding indicated that the diagnosis of mental illness by itself was sufficient for sanctioning physicians. The same states indicated that they treat physicians receiving psychiatric care differently than they do physicians receiving medical care. In follow-up interviews all 13 indicated that without evidence of impairment or misrepresentation any such sanctioning was likely to be temporary. A significant percentage (37 percent) of states sanction or have the ability to sanction physicians on the basis of information revealed on the licensing application about the presence of a psychiatric condition rather than on the basis of impairment. The same percentage state they treat physicians receiving psychiatric care differently than they do those receiving medical care. Physicians’ perceptions of this apparent discrimination is likely to play a role in their reluctance to seek help for mental health-related conditions. Suggestions are made for how SMBs and state physician health programs and state and county medical societies might collaborate in ways that while protecting patients decreases barriers to physicians help seeking.

scholarly journals Marking Space: a Literary Psychogeography of the Practice of a Nurse Artist

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Heather Edwina Martin
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Mental Health Field ◽  
Community Arts ◽  
Field Environment ◽  
Hospital Environments ◽  
The Social ◽  
Creative Style ◽  
Health Field

<p>The thesis as a production of disciplined work presented in a creative style is congruent with performance and presentation best practice in community arts. As a practising nurse artist I create spaces of alternate ordering within the mental health field environment. I also inhabit the marginal space of the artist working in hospital environments. This Other Place neither condones nor denies the existence of the mental health field environment as it is revealed. Yet, it seeks to find an alternative to the power and subjectivity of the [social] control of people with an experience of mental illness that inhabit this place both voluntarily and involuntarily. I have used a variety of texts to explore the experience and concept of Otherness. The poems are intended to take you, as a reader where you could not perhaps emotionally and physically go, or might have never envisaged going. They also allow me as the author to more fully describe the Otherness of place that is neither the consumer story nor the nurse’s notation, but somewhere alternately ordered to these two spaces. Drawing on the heuristic research approaches of Moustakas and literary psychogeography , particularly the work of Guy Debord, this thesis creates the space to explore the possibilities of resistance and change and the emergence of the identity of the nurse artist within the mental health field environment.</p>

scholarly journals Causal beliefs of mental illness and its impact on help-seeking attitudes: a cross-sectional study among university students in Singapore

BMJ Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. e035818
Author(s):  
Gregory Tee Hng Tan ◽  
Shazana Shahwan ◽  
Chong Ming Janrius Goh ◽  
Wei Jie Ong ◽  
Ellaisha Samari ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Illness ◽  
University Students ◽  
Help Seeking ◽  
Social Contact ◽  
Mental Illnesses ◽  
Considerable Proportion ◽  
Causal Beliefs ◽  
Professional Help ◽  
Help Seeking Attitudes ◽  
Beliefs About Mental Illness

ObjectivesA considerable proportion of those who suffer from mental illnesses in Singapore do not seek any form of professional help. The reluctance to seek professional help could be due to misconceptions about the causes of mental illnesses. Research has shown that help-seeking attitudes can predict actual service use. As young adults are most at risk of developing mental illnesses, this study aims to elucidate the impact of causal beliefs about mental illness on help-seeking attitudes among university students in Singapore.DesignPrior to attending an anti-stigma intervention, data on the Causal Beliefs about Mental Illness, Inventory of Attitudes towards Seeking Mental Health services and questions pertaining to sociodemographic background were collected from participants using a self-administered questionnaire. Multiple linear regressions were performed to examine the relationship between causal beliefs and help-seeking, as well as their sociodemographic correlates.SettingsA university in Singapore.Participants390 students who were studying in a University in Singapore.ResultsYounger age was associated with higher scores on psychosocial attribution, while prior social contact with individuals with mental illness was significantly associated with lower scores on personality attribution. With regard to help-seeking attitudes; being a male and personality attribution were significantly associated with lower scores on ‘Psychological Openness’ and ‘Indifference to Stigma’, while psychosocial attribution was significantly associated with higher scores on ‘Help-seeking Propensity’. Having prior social contact also predicted higher ‘Psychological Openness’, while being in Year 2 and 3 predicted lower scores on ’Indifference to Stigma’.ConclusionFindings from this study suggest that help-seeking attitudes might be influenced by causal beliefs, with personality attribution being the most impairing. Hence, to reduce the wide treatment gap in Singapore, anti-stigma interventions targeting young people could focus on addressing beliefs that attribute mental illness to the personality of the individual.

scholarly journals Mental Health Literacy Intervention on Help-Seeking in Athletes: A Systematic Review

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (19) ◽  
pp. 7263
Author(s):  
Danran Bu ◽  
Pak-Kwong Chung ◽  
Chun-Qing Zhang ◽  
Jingdong Liu ◽  
Xiang Wang
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Systematic Review ◽  
Help Seeking ◽  
Mental Health Literacy ◽  
Health Knowledge ◽  
Risk Of Bias ◽  
Stigma Reduction ◽  
Help Seeking Attitudes ◽  
Mental Health Knowledge

Mental health literacy (MHL) is recognised as a major factor in whether athletes seek help when they experience mental health difficulties. Therefore, the current study aimed to provide a systematic review of the effectiveness of MHL training programmes in improving mental health knowledge and help-seeking and reducing stigma among athletes. To identify intervention studies of MHL programmes, five electronic databases were systematically searched for articles published before May 2020. The selection procedure was based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. All kinds of study designs were included. Effect sizes were calculated for mental health knowledge, stigma reduction and help-seeking attitudes, intentions and behaviours. Risk of bias was assessed for each study using the Cochrane tool and the Newcastle–Ottawa quality assessment scale. Five studies (1239 participants in total) were selected for review. Overall, either small or medium effects were found for mental health knowledge, stigma reduction, help-seeking attitudes, and intentions for post- and follow-up interventions, whereas a null effect was found in help-seeking behaviours for both post- and follow-up interventions. Furthermore, three studies had a low risk of bias, and two had a high risk of bias. MHL interventions can enhance help-seeking attitudes and intentions and mental health knowledge and reduce stigma but do not increase help-seeking behaviours for now. Further studies should evaluate interventions to enhance help-seeking behaviours. Furthermore, the methodological quality of studies, including randomized controlled trials and other designs, should be improved in future research.

Recall of News Stories About Mental Illness by Australian Youth: Associations with Help-Seeking Attitudes and Stigma

2009 ◽  
Vol 43 (9) ◽  
pp. 866-872 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy J. Morgan ◽  
Anthony F. Jorm
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Help Seeking ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
News Story ◽  
Help Seeking Attitudes ◽  
News Stories ◽  
People With Mental Illness ◽  
Willingness To Seek Help

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.

scholarly journals A Structural Equation Modeling of Mental Health Literacy in Healthcare Students

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (24) ◽  
pp. 13264
Author(s):  
Chia-Min Lu ◽  
Yin-Ju Lien ◽  
Hsing-Jung Chao ◽  
Hui-Shin Lin ◽  
I-Chuan Tsai
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Health Literacy ◽  
Help Seeking ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Mental Health Literacy ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Help Seeking Attitudes ◽  
Healthcare Students

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.

scholarly journals Predictors of help-seeking behaviour in people with mental health problems: a 3-year prospective community study

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolin M. Doll ◽  
Chantal Michel ◽  
Marlene Rosen ◽  
Naweed Osman ◽  
Benno G. Schimmelmann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Help Seeking ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Health Problems ◽  
Community Study ◽  
People With Mental Illness ◽  
Help Seeking Behaviour ◽  
Anticipated Stigma

Abstract Background The majority of people with mental illness do not seek help at all or only with significant delay. To reduce help-seeking barriers for people with mental illness, it is therefore important to understand factors predicting help-seeking. Thus, we prospectively examined potential predictors of help-seeking behaviour among people with mental health problems (N = 307) over 3 years. Methods Of the participants of a 3-year follow-up of a larger community study (response rate: 66.4%), data of 307 (56.6%) persons with any mental health problems (age-at-baseline: 16–40 years) entered a structural equation model of the influence of help-seeking, stigma, help-seeking attitudes, functional impairments, age and sex at baseline on subsequent help-seeking for mental health problems. Results Functional impairment at baseline was the strongest predictor of follow-up help-seeking in the model. Help-seeking at baseline was the second-strongest predictor of subsequent help-seeking, which was less likely when help-seeking for mental health problems was assumed to be embarrassing. Personal and perceived stigma, and help-seeking intentions had no direct effect on help-seeking. Conclusions With only 22.5% of persons with mental health problems seeking any help for these, there was a clear treatment gap. Functional deficits were the strongest mediator of help-seeking, indicating that help is only sought when mental health problems have become more severe. Earlier help-seeking seemed to be mostly impeded by anticipated stigma towards help-seeking for mental health problems. Thus, factors or beliefs conveying such anticipated stigma should be studied longitudinally in more detail to be able to establish low-threshold services in future.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document