Help-Seeking Behavior, Mental Health Issue
Conditions
Keywords
Mental help-seeking, COVID-19, College students, Self-persuasion
Brief summary
This study aimed at testing the effectiveness of a longitudinal intervention in increasing college students' intention to seek mental help during the pandemic.
Detailed description
This study aimed at testing the effectiveness of a longitudinal intervention in increasing college students' intention to seek mental help during the pandemic. A four-armed randomized controlled experiment was conducted to compare two self-persuasion methods against two control conditions. Assessments took place at baseline (T0), post-first treatment (T1), post-second treatment (six weeks, T2), and ten-week follow-up (T3). The results showed that the intervention significantly increased students' help-seeking intention, attitude, and efficacy at different time points. It also reduced mental help-seeking-related stigma after the first task.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALMental help-seeking self-persuasion
Employing a longitudinal design, this study used a self-persuasion framework in a 4-arm intervention to increase college students' help-seeking intentions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sponsors
Cleveland State University
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH
Masking
SINGLE (Subject)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 100 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* 18 years old or older * Full-time undergraduate students * Had more than a moderate amount of mental distress
Exclusion criteria
* Under 18 years old * Not full-time undergraduate students * Had less than a moderate amount of mental distress
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Help-Seeking Intention | 10 weeks | Help-Seeking Intention was measured by one item created based on recommendations by Ajzen (2002). Measured on a 5-point scale (1 = extremely unlikely, 5 = extremely likely), this item asked, If you have a personal-emotional problem, how likely is it that you would seek help from a mental health professional (a psychologist, psychologist, or psychotherapist)? Higher scores on this item suggest higher intentions to seek professional mental help. |
| Help-Seeking Behavior | 10 weeks | Help-Seeking Behavior was measured by a validated item modified from previous research based on the transtheoretical model (Sarkin et al., 2001). The item asked about if a participant has sought mental help from a health care professional. Answers to this item included 1 = not intending to seek help in the next six months, 2 = intending to seek help in the next six months, 3 = planning to seek help in the next 30 days, 4 = have already sought help but for less than six months, and 5 = have been under treatment for more than six months. |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Mental help-seeking attitudes | 10 weeks | participants rated 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) on ten items of the Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help Scale-Short Form (ATSPPHS-SF) (Fischer & Farina, 1995). |
| Self-stigma of seeking mental help | 10/2020 - 1/10 weeks | Participants rated 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) on ten items adopted from the Self-Stigma of Seeking Help (SSOSH) scale (Vogel et al., 2006). |
| Mental help-seeking efficacy | 10 weeks | Mental Help-Seeking Efficacy was measured by five items modified from previous research (Mo & Mak, 2009) and recommendations (Ajzen, 2002). Participants rated 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) on the answers. |
Countries
United States
Outcome results
None listed