Emotional benefits and barriers of professional psychological services scale: initial construction and validation among African American women

The current study used the Health Belief Model to develop a measure that assesses the emotional benefits and barriers of professional psychological services for African American women. Exploratory factor analysis revealed a two-factor structure of the Emotional Benefits and Barriers of Professional Psychological Services (EBBPPS) Scale: Life Enhancement and Concerns about Distress, respectively. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed this two-factor solution and demonstrated superior fit compared to a general, unidimensional model as well as a three factor model. Both factors exhibited excellent internal consistency, and test-retest reliability coefficients support the temporal stability. Construct validity was supported given that EBBPPS factors were correlated with theoretically related constructs, like psychological help-seeking attitudes and cultural identity, as well as uncorrelated with theoretically unrelated constructs, like psychological distress. Life Enhancement exhibited unique predictive validity for intentions to seek counseling. These findings support the utility and cultural relevance of the EBBPPS with African American women.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2016

Author dc:creator

• Watson, Natalie N

Contributors dc:contributor

• Hunter, Carla D.
• Allen, Nicole
• Aber, Mark
• Todd, Nathan R.
• Neville, Helen A.

• Help-seeking attitudes
• Health Belief Model
• Validation
• African Americans

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2016 Natalie N. Watson

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/93046

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/93046