scholarly journals Mental health stigma and help-seeking intentions in police employees

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel W Grupe

Mental health problems among police employees are exacerbated by negative attitudes and beliefs around mental health help-seeking perpetuated by police culture. We collected anonymous survey data from 259 civilian and commissioned police employees to test hypothesized relationships among help-seeking stigma, help-seeking attitudes, and intended help-seeking behavior. Results demonstrated that mental help-seeking stigma was negatively associated with help-seeking attitudes, and in turn with reduced mental health help-seeking intentions. Structural equation modeling provided support for a model linking help-seeking stigma, help-seeking attitudes, and intentions to seek help. This path model was moderated by psychological distress and previous participation in mindfulness training, which had opposing effects on help-seeking stigma and (indirectly) on intended help-seeking. These results support the hypothesis that stigma around mental health help-seeking contributes to reduced help-seeking intentions, and provide insight into policies, practices, and interventions that police agencies may enact to combat stigma and positively influence mental health help-seeking.

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.


2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hsiu-Lan Cheng ◽  
Richard Martinez ◽  
Jessica L. Jackson ◽  
Casey N. Durham ◽  
Jill K. Peters ◽  
...  

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 438-461 ◽  
Author(s):  
Munyi Shea ◽  
Y. Joel Wong ◽  
Kimmy K. Nguyen ◽  
Serani Baghdasarian

Female gender has been consistently associated with positive psychological help-seeking attitudes and behaviors; however, surprisingly few empirical studies have examined how femininity-related variables impact women’s help-seeking decision making. Informed by the theory of reasoned action (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980), the purpose of this study was (a) to investigate the associations between two femininity constructs—subjective femininity stress and gender solidarity—and psychological help-seeking intention, and (b) to explore the mediating roles of help-seeking attitudes and social stigma using structural equation modeling. Participants were 451 college-enrolled women in Southern California. Results revealed that all the mediation relationships involving help-seeking attitudes and stigma were significant. Subjective femininity stress was positively related to help-seeking intention via help-seeking attitudes, but was negatively related to intention via social stigma. Gender solidarity was positively related to help-seeking intention via positive attitudes and reduced social stigma. Implications for future research, prevention programs, and practice are discussed.


2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dhannajay Bapat

In terms of future revenue stream, the potential of young adults is considered to be significant. The study is relevant to India as the segment dominates the population. The objective of the study is to examine the antecedents to financial management behavior for young adults. One hundred and sixty responses were obtained from respondents. While employing structural equation modeling, we found that variables such as help-seeking behavior, financial knowledge, and electronic banking, positively affect financial management behavior. The findings suggest that financial educators and counselors need to incorporate electronic banking along with other dimensions such as financial knowledge and help-seekers. Financial educators can benefit from innovative technology features.


Author(s):  
Yulisha Byrow ◽  
Rosanna Pajak ◽  
Tadgh McMahon ◽  
Amitabh Rajouria ◽  
Angela Nickerson

Rates of help-seeking for mental health problems are low amongst refugee communities, despite the high prevalence of PTSD reported amongst these individuals. Research suggests that the key barriers to seeking help for psychological problems include structural barriers (e.g., unstable housing), cultural barriers (e.g., mental health stigma), and barriers specific to refugees and asylum seekers (e.g., visa status). This study examined the effect of structural, cultural and refugee specific barriers on the relationship between PTSD symptom severity and intentions to seek help from professional, social, and community sources. Data was collected from 103 male refugees and asylum seekers with an Arabic-, Farsi-, or Tamil-speaking background. Participants completed measures indexing demographics, trauma exposure, PTSD symptoms, mental health stigma, and help-seeking intentions. Path analyses indicated that PTSD severity was associated with lower help-seeking intentions indirectly via mental health stigma (self-stigma for seeking help and self-stigma for PTSD) and visa security. PTSD severity was also associated with greater help-seeking intentions from community members indirectly via structural barriers. These findings are important to consider when identifying key barriers to mental health help-seeking and developing interventions designed to increase help-seeking for psychological problems, within this group.


2022 ◽  
pp. 0192513X2110598
Author(s):  
Michael Fitzgerald ◽  
Jacob A. Esplin

Childhood abuse has been widely associated with mental health problems in adulthood and marital quality may be one possible mediator. We examine marital quality as a mediator linking childhood abuse to positive affect, negative affect, emotionally reactivity, and aggression. Using data from Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS), results of structural equation modeling indicate that the indirect effects from childhood abuse to each of the mental health outcomes were significant. Marital quality may be a source of resilience among adults who were abused in childhood and could be a point of intervention for clinicians.


2009 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 50-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lyn Phillipson ◽  
Sandra C. Jones ◽  
Elizabeth Wiese

Formative research was undertaken in the Illawarra region of New South Wales (south of Sydney, Australia) to identify local communication strategies to influence the help-seeking behavior of young people in relation to a new youth-focused general practice (or physician) led mental health service. Research with the target market (12–25years) revealed the need for a local campaign to address the stigma associated with the use of mental health services and the need to emphasize the central role of the general practitioner or physician to the service. The results also indicated that any overarching campaign should be complemented by segment-specific strategies which tailor not only communication variables and channels to reach different market segments, but also consider varying aspects of the product or service to reach a broad cross-section of the target group.


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