The relationship between university student help-seeking intentions and well-being outcomes

Bibliographic Data

ID15527326
AuthorsM Mccabe (0000-0002-0245-6701, Monash University, corresponding author), M L Byrne (0000-0002-4180-8095, Monash University), Michelle Byrne, Judith Gullifer (0000-0002-7892-2975, Monash University), Kim Cornish (0000-0003-2014-0193, Monash University)
Year2024
Volume15
Pages1407689-1407689
Publication date2024-07-05
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueFrontiers in Psychiatry (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1664-0640 • E-ISSN: 1664-0640
PublisherFrontiers Media (PUBLISHER • CH)
DOI10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1407689
PMID39035604
OpenAlexW4400368975
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited33

University represents a time of both great uncertainty and change as well as a time of opportunity and learning. University students represent a population both at a higher risk of experiencing poor mental health and diagnosis and a population with relatively greater access and communication of both mental health literacy resources and mental health support services. Despite this, we consistently see low intention of help-seeking for mental health services or health services, with a clear preference shown for personal contacts such as friends or parents. To understand help-seeking intentions and their relationship with well-being, the current study explored two core hypotheses, when assessing a broad range of help-seeking options, the likelihood of seeking support from a range of sources will cluster together to create help-seeking groupings that can be further explored (1) and that across these help-seeking factors, there would be difference in intention score across students who fall within "at-risk," "low," or "normal to high" well-being groupings (2). Through a series of exploratory factor analysis (EFA) on a subsample ( N = 178) and final confirmatory factor analysis ( N = 1597) identified five help-seeking factors: Intimate Partner (single item), Personal Relations (friends, parents, and other relatives), External Health Service (external mental health provider and health provider), University Health Service (university mental health and health provider), and Digital and Distal Professional (digital apps, websites or forums, telehealth, religious leaders, and phone or online emergency services). To address hypothesis 2, a multivariate analysis of covariance was run to assess help-seeking intentions across factors between students with "at-risk" ( N = 453), "low" ( N = 484), or "normal to high" ( N = 563) well-being scores. Although significant differences were found between groups on almost all help-seeking factors (except External Health Service), the differences between groups were small. However, consistently those with "normal to high" well-being demonstrated higher intention to seek help compared to "low" and "at-risk" groups. Across all groups, Personal Relations demonstrated the highest average help-seeking intention score and, in addition to supporting findings in previous literature, represents a potential "lowest hanging fruit" of help-seeking source for university students

Health care · Health literacy · Help-seeking · Information seeking · Medical education · Mental health · Mental health literacy · Mental illness · Phone · Population · Psychiatry · Service (business · Service provider · Applied Psychology · COVID-19 and Mental Health · Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum · Medicine · Mental Health Treatment and Access · Psychology · Social Psychology

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