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This pilot study was designed to investigate the relation between mental health literacy and help-seeking intentions, and to explore which components of mental health literacy might be best able to predict helpseeking intentions. An online questionnaire was completed by a convenience sample of 150 university students enrolled
in a psychology unit, aged between 17 and 26 years. A simultaneous multiple regression indicated that higher levels of mental health literacy could predict greater intentions to seek help from professional sources. A number of mental health literacy components made a unique and significant contribution to the prediction of help-seeking intentions. The findings of this pilot study indicate that the role of mental health literacy in facilitating help-seeking is a promising area of research.
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International Journal of Mental Health Promotion
VOLUME 13 ISSUE 2 - MAY 2011 © The Clifford Beers Foundation
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The following question was asked: ‘In the next twelve months, if you were to experience a mental illness, how likely are you to seek help from the following?’ Potential sources of help listed were partner, friends, counsellor, psychologist, psychiatrist, doctor, church, parents or other family members, and telephone crisis hotline. Responses were indicated on 11-point response scales, ranging from 0 (extremely unlikely to seek help from this source) to 10 (extremely likely to seek help from this source). Internal consistency has previously been found to be satisfactory when responses were condensed to form a single help-seeking score (Cronbach’s alpha = .83), and validity has been found to be sound (Wilson et al, 2005). However, in this study intentions to seek professional help were of primary interest and this measure has not been used in this manner previously. A variable, highest help-seeking intention, was created by allocating each participant the highest score they gave to any one professional help source, from the five professional help sources they rated: counsellor, psychologist, psychiatrist, doctor and telephone crisis hotline. This method was selected in preference to an average of the professional sources because an individual need only be willing to seek help from one particular professional source in order to receive appropriate assistance. Mental health literacy Three areas of mental health literacy were assessed using selected items of a mental health literacy measure (Jorm et al, 2007; Oh et al, 2009; Wright et al, 2007): knowledge about the importance of help-seeking for mental illness, knowledge about the helpfulness of available interventions, and attitudinal beliefs about mental illness. It is noted that this measure has not previously been used to create a total ‘mental health literacy’ score,
in a psychology unit, aged between 17 and 26 years. A simultaneous multiple regression indicated that higher levels of mental health literacy could predict greater intentions to seek help from professional sources. A number of mental health literacy components made a unique and significant contribution to the prediction of help-seeking intentions. The findings of this pilot study indicate that the role of mental health literacy in facilitating help-seeking is a promising area of research.
14
International Journal of Mental Health Promotion
VOLUME 13 ISSUE 2 - MAY 2011 © The Clifford Beers Foundation
F
E
A …show more content…
The following question was asked: ‘In the next twelve months, if you were to experience a mental illness, how likely are you to seek help from the following?’ Potential sources of help listed were partner, friends, counsellor, psychologist, psychiatrist, doctor, church, parents or other family members, and telephone crisis hotline. Responses were indicated on 11-point response scales, ranging from 0 (extremely unlikely to seek help from this source) to 10 (extremely likely to seek help from this source). Internal consistency has previously been found to be satisfactory when responses were condensed to form a single help-seeking score (Cronbach’s alpha = .83), and validity has been found to be sound (Wilson et al, 2005). However, in this study intentions to seek professional help were of primary interest and this measure has not been used in this manner previously. A variable, highest help-seeking intention, was created by allocating each participant the highest score they gave to any one professional help source, from the five professional help sources they rated: counsellor, psychologist, psychiatrist, doctor and telephone crisis hotline. This method was selected in preference to an average of the professional sources because an individual need only be willing to seek help from one particular professional source in order to receive appropriate assistance. Mental health literacy Three areas of mental health literacy were assessed using selected items of a mental health literacy measure (Jorm et al, 2007; Oh et al, 2009; Wright et al, 2007): knowledge about the importance of help-seeking for mental illness, knowledge about the helpfulness of available interventions, and attitudinal beliefs about mental illness. It is noted that this measure has not previously been used to create a total ‘mental health literacy’ score,