Stigma and attitude towards help-seeking behavior in relation to mental health

In general, over the past decades, mental health problems have been regarded in a negative way. Although, this has improved in the past few years and the discussion about mental health problems has become more open. The aim of this research was to examine whether perceived public and personal stigma, as well as, reasons for not seeking help for mental health problems differed by gender, age, education and/or income. Also, whether these background variables could predict people‘s help-seeking behavior. To address this, a translated version of General Help-Seeking Questionnaire (GHSQ), and a translated version of Discrimination-Devaluation (D-D) Scale were used. Participants were 192 in total, thereof 70.3% females and 29.7% males, with the age range from age 18 or younger to 78 or older. They were recruited through Facebook where a questionnaire was posted on the researcher’s page. The results of this research showed that males and older individuals had the highest personal stigma, females and older individuals were likeliest to find it too expensive to seek help, and the main predictive factors for help-seeking were age and public stigma. These findings underline the importance of reducing stigma towards mental health problems, and the high value of decrease the cost of services provided by mental health professionals. Keywords: attitude, mental health, stigma, help-seeking

Author dc:creator

• Sigríður Kristín Jónsdóttir 1990-

Contributors dc:contributor

• Háskólinn í Reykjavík

• Sálfræði
• Geðheilsa
• Viðhorf
• Fordómar
• Psychology
• Mental health
• Attitude (Psychology)
• Prejudices

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1946/36450

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:skemman.is:1946/36450