Young people’s help-seeking for mental health problems

作者：Debra Rickwood, Frank P. Deane, Coralie J Wilson, Joseph Ciarrochi · 发表于：Advances in Mental Health · 年份：2005 · DOI：10.5172/jamh.4.3.218 · 被引用次数：1642 · 研究领域：Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development、Adolescent and Pediatric Healthcare、Family Support in Illness

This paper summarises an ambitious research agenda aiming to uncover the factors that affect help-seeking among young people for mental health problems. The research set out to consider why young people, and particularly young males, do not seek help when they are in psychological distress or suicidal; how professional services be made more accessible and attractive to young people; the factors that inhibit and facilitate help-seeking; and how community gatekeepers can support young people to access services to help with personal and emotional problems. A range of studies was undertaken in New South Wales, Queensland and the ACT, using both qualitative and quantitative approaches. Data from a total of 2721 young people aged 14–24 years were gathered, as well as information from some of the community gatekeepers to young people’s mental health care.Help-seeking was measured in all the studies using the General Help Seeking Questionnaire (Wilson, Deane, Ciarrochi & Rickwood, 2005), which measures future help-seeking intentions and, through supplementary questions, can also assess prior help-seeking experience. Many of the studies also measured recent help-seeking behaviour using the Actual Help Seeking Questionnaire. The types of mental health problems examined varied across the studies and included depressive symptoms, personal-emotional problems, and suicidal thoughts.The help-seeking process was conceptualised using a framework developed during the research program. This fra...