Explaining non-help-seeking amongst young adults with mental distress

A Dynamic Interpretive Model of Illness Behaviour

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2265870
AutoresLucy Biddle (0000-0002-1090-8771, University of Bristol, autor de correspondencia), Jenny Donovan (0000-0002-6488-5472, University of Bristol), Debbie Sharp (0000-0003-3071-9860, University of Bristol), David Gunnell (0000-0002-0829-6470, University of Bristol)
Año2007
Volumen29
Número7
Páginas983-1002
Fecha de publicación2007-11-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaSociology of Health & Illness (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0141-9889 • E-ISSN: 1467-9566
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1467-9566.2007.01030.x
PMID18092979
OpenAlexW2153065588
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas74
Referencias citadas41

Mental disorder is common amongst young adults and is associated with many adverse outcomes. Data, however, indicate that young adults are particularly unlikely to seek help for such distress. This paper describes a qualitative study of 23 young adults (aged 16 to 24 years) with mental distress. Interviewing was used to obtain detailed narratives of illness behaviour and to explore reasons for non-help-seeking. Help-seekers and non-help-seekers were interviewed. The findings allowed development of an explanatory model - the cycle of avoidance (COA) - which contributes towards attempts to provide a dynamic understanding of help-seeking behaviour. Dominant approaches tend to be deterministic and static and to account for non-help-seeking in terms of 'barriers' to care, which although easily translated into targets for policy intervention, are superficial representations of complex issues. The COA conceptualises help-seeking as a circular process and offers a model of 'non-help-seeking' in which lay conceptions of mental distress, the social meanings attached to 'help-seeking' and treatment, and the purposeful action of individuals, assume central importance. Although derived in the context of young adulthood and mental distress, this model may have wider applicability as a theoretical template for explaining non-help-seeking in other age groups and conditions, and other illness behaviours

Context (archaeology) · Developmental psychology · Distress · Help-seeking · Interview · Mental distress · Mental health · Mental illness · Narrative · Psychiatry · Seekers · Clinical Psychology · Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving · Mental Health and Patient Involvement · Mental Health Treatment and Access · Psychology