Do depression literacy, mental illness beliefs and stigma influence mental health help-seeking attitude? A cross-sectional study of secondary school and university students from B40 households in Malaysia

作者：Norhayati Ibrahim, Noh Amit, Suzana Shahar, Lei-Hum Wee, Rozmi İsmail, Rozainee Khairuddin, Ching Sin Siau, Aisyah Mohd Safien · 发表于：BMC Public Health · 年份：2019 · DOI：10.1186/s12889-019-6862-6 · 被引用次数：205 · 研究领域：Mental Health Treatment and Access、Family Caregiving in Mental Illness、Digital Mental Health Interventions

Mental illness rates among young people is high, yet the frequency of help-seeking is low, especially among those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. Understanding factors influencing help-seeking, such as mental illness beliefs, stigma and literacy among B40 individuals is important, but past studies are sparse. Hence, we aimed to examine the factors associated with mental help-seeking attitude among students from the B40 income bracket. Differences in beliefs toward mental illness, stigma and help-seeking attitudes among university and secondary school students were also investigated. University and secondary school students from low-income households ( N = 202) were involved in this cross-sectional study. Participants completed the Depression Literacy Questionnaire (D-Lit), General Help Seeking Questionnaire (GHSQ), Mental Help Seeking Attitudes Scale (MHSAS), Self-Stigma of Seeking Help Scale (SSOSH), and Beliefs toward Mental Illness (BMI). Mental help-seeking attitude had a significant relationship with self-stigma on seeking help (r = −.258, p < .001), general help-seeking attitude (r = .156, p = .027), and age (r = .187, p < .001). However, the strongest predictor for mental help-seeking attitude was self-stigma on seeking help (F (2,199) = 8.207, p < .001 with R 2 of .076). University students had better depression literacy and lower levels of self-stigma and negative beliefs toward mental illness compared to secondary school students. Higher self-stigma and younge...