Help-seeking preferences in Australian mental health website visitors: A latent profile analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Psychological distress and suicide rates are climbing in Australia despite substantial mental health programme investment in recent decades. Understanding where individuals prefer to seek support in the event of a personal or emotional crisis may help target mental health resources to where they are most needed. This study aimed to explore individual differences in help-seeking preferences that may be leveraged for early intervention and mental health service design. METHOD: Latent profile analysis was used to explore the help-seeking preferences of 1561 Australian online help-seekers who elected to complete a psychological distress screening on a popular mental health website, Beyond Blue. RESULTS: Four latent profiles of help-seeker emerged that illustrate distinct preference channels for support: help-negaters, professional help-seekers, family help-seekers and help-affirmatives. Help-negaters were the least likely to consider seeking help from any source, recorded the highest levels of psychological distress and suicidal ideation, and were more likely to be younger. Help-affirmatives were the most likely to seek help from any source, particularly from religious leaders, and were more likely to speak a language other than English at home. CONCLUSION: Many individuals experiencing mental health concerns will prefer to seek support from family or community contacts rather than professionals, and some will not seek help at all. Diversity in help-seeking preferences should be considered when designing mental health services, outreach and psychoeducation materials.

What responses do people at risk of suicide find most helpful and unhelpful from professionals and non-professionals?

BACKGROUND: People at risk of suicide frequently communicate suicidal thoughts to professionals and non-professionals. These groups, therefore, need to be aware of how best to respond. AIMS: We aimed to identify helpful and unhelpful responses to communications of suicide risk from the perspective of those at risk to inform suicide prevention messaging and education. METHOD: We conducted an online survey (n = 141) of members of an online reference group for an Australian mental health organisation with a history of suicide risk. RESULTS: Most respondents had repeatedly considered and attempted suicide. Indirect suicide communications were more common than direct communications. Listening without judgement was the most common helpful response and "minimizing" responses to suicidal thoughts and feelings, the most common unhelpful responses. CONCLUSION: We make recommendations for suicide prevention messages and professional education content based on these findings.

Help-Seeking Behaviors for Intimate Partner Violence Among College Students: Implications for Intimate Partner Violence Prevention and Intervention.

This study applied Andersen's Model of Health Service Use to examine help-seeking behaviors for intimate partner violence (IPV) and predisposing, enabling, and need factors for help-seeking among college students. The sample (N = 2,719) consisted of those who experienced IPV and was recruited from six universities in the United States and one university in Canada through an online survey. Results showed that 45.4% of the sample had sought some form of help for IPV. The most utilized source of formal help was from medical services, and friends were the number one source of informal help. Gender, age, sexual orientation (predisposing factors), IPV training (enabling factor), experiencing psychological and technological violence, and IPV consequences (need factors) were associated with seeking help. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Predicting intentions to seek help for depression among undergraduates in Sri Lanka.

BACKGROUND: Studies have found that although there are high rates of depression among university students, their help-seeking practices are poor. It is important to identify students who are less likely to seek the necessary help, to encourage better help-seeking among them. This study, which was conducted among undergraduates in Sri Lanka, examined the associations between personal characteristics of the undergraduates and their intentions to seek help for depression. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study in which 4461 undergraduates (Male: n = 1358, 30.4%, Female: n = 3099, 69.5%; Mean age = 22.18; SD = 1.47) indicated their intentions to seek help if personally affected by depression, which was described in a hypothetical vignette about a peer experiencing depression symptomatology. The predictors of the undergraduates' help-seeking intentions, including their sociodemographic characteristics, prior exposure to and recognition of the problem, and their stigma towards those with depression were examined using binary logistic regression analyses models. RESULTS: The undergraduates' ability to recognise the problem was one of the strongest predictors of their intentions to seek professional help. Those with higher levels of stigma were less likely to seek both professional and informal help. While females were less likely to consider professional help, they were more likely to consider the help of informal help-providers and to consider religious strategies. Medical undergraduates and those who had sought help for personal experiences of the problem were also more likely to consider informal help. However, all these associations resulted in small effect sizes, except for those between recognition of the problem and the undergraduates' intentions to seek professional help, where medium to very large effect sizes were observed in the case of some the associations examined. CONCLUSIONS: Improvement of problem-recognition may be a key strategy for improving help-seeking among these undergraduates. Reduction of stigma may also be associated with better depression-related help-seeking of undergraduates. Females and medical undergraduates need to be educated about the importance of seeking appropriate types of help, and their informal social networks must be educated about how best to help them.

Seeking help for postpartum depression in the Israeli Jewish orthodox community: factors associated with use of professional and informal help.

Postpartum depression (PPD) has potentially devastating personal and familial consequences. However, very few women receive treatment, either professional or informal. Use patterns and factors associated with both professional and informal help for PPD have not yet been investigated. This study examined factors associated with use of professional and informal help for PPD in an Israeli sample that included women from secular, traditional, orthodox, and ultra-orthodox Jewish religious groups. One to two days postpartum, 1,059 women were recruited from a large hospital in Jerusalem, Israel, and completed an initial survey; 805 women (76%) participated at the 6-week follow-up; 94 women (12%) screened positive for PPD symptoms at the 6-week follow-up and were referred for help; and 88 women completed the 6-month postpartum follow-up interview. Of the women referred for help, 69% used some sort of help, with 24% using professional help and 45% using informal help. Confidence in mental health professionals and higher levels of PPD symptomatology were associated with use of professional help. Recognition of personal need for professional psychological help was negatively associated with use of informal help. Findings from this study highlight the importance of routine screening for PPD and culturally sensitive referrals using informal sources of help.

Formal and informal help-seeking for mental health problems. A survey of preferences of italian students.

Help-seeking preferences for mental health are a crucial aspect to design strategies to support adolescents in an emotionally delicate life phase. Informal help-seeking is usually preferred but little was published about preferences in different cultures, and it is not clear whether informal and formal help are mutually exclusive or whether they are part of the same overall propensity to help-seeking. In a survey of 710 students in Milan, Italy, help-seeking propensity measured through an Italian version of the General Help-Seeking Questionnaire was high, similar in males and females (mean total score 3.8, DS 0.9); few (9%) tended not to seek help. The most-preferred source of help was a friend, then father or mother, partner, psychologist and psychiatrist. 355 students (55%) reported high propensity to seek both informal and formal help; 33 (5%) would only seek formal help. Help-seeking should be promoted in itself, rather than indicating professionals and professional settings as primary sources of help.

Who Received Informal Social Support During the First COVID-19 Lockdown in Germany, and Who Did Not? The Role of Social Networks, Life Course and Pandemic-Specific Risks.

In this article, we study the receipt of informal support during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany. The containment measures have had various, far-reaching consequences for the wellbeing of people, creating demands for economic, practical, and emotional support-even among individuals who hitherto were not in need of support. Existing research has shown substantial levels of informal support during the pandemic, often based on individuals' existing social networks, but has predominantly taken the perspective of donors. In this article, we focus on the "demand" or recipient "side" of informal support, and ask: (1) Who receives which type of informal social support during the pandemic? (2) Who reports unmet need? (3) Which factors explain support receipt, unmet need and the type of support received? To explain patterns of receiving social support, we identify "classic" life course and "new" pandemic-specific risks and complement this perspective with individuals' support potentials from their social networks. Empirically, we use data from an online survey, collected among a quota sample of the German population (n = 4,496) at the end of the first lockdown in late spring 2020. Our analysis shows that one in six respondents received social support, while only 3% report unmet need. Practical and emotional support are most widespread. Using logistic and multinomial logistic regression models our results show that social support in general and the type of support received can be explained by life course and pandemic risks, while unmet need is mainly a consequence of social network structure.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the provision of instrumental help by older people across Europe.

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 introduced new challenges to social cohesion across Europe. Epidemiological control measures instituted in almost all European countries have impacted the possibility to provide help to others. In addition, individual characteristics contributed to whether individuals were able and willing to provide help to or receive help from others. Against this background, we focus on how private support networks of individuals aged 50 years and older across Europe were directly or indirectly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The focus of the paper is on the supply side. While the older population has been mainly perceived as recipients of instrumental help in the COVID-19 pandemic, the paper examines the patterns of providing instrumental help to others by the older generations and their changes during the pandemic. Has the provision of instrumental help increased or decreased in the course of the COVID-19 crisis? Have the groups of recipients changed during the pandemic? What were key determinants for helping others in 2021 as compared to the first phase of the pandemic 1 year before? And how did this differ across countries with different degrees of affectedness by COVID-19? To answer these questions, we analyzed representative data from the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) and, in particular, the two waves of the SHARE Corona Survey, fielded in 27 European countries and Israel in 2020 and 2021. Results based on data from more than 45,000 respondents aged 50+ showed that help from children to parents has strongly increased in the first phase of the pandemic, while the opposite (parents helping their children) has decreased-especially in countries that have been hit hardest by the pandemic in 2020. This changed with the continuing crisis. Instrumental help provided to non-kin that was common in Western Europe in the first phase of the pandemic, yielding an optimistic view of increasing solidarity after the outbreak of COVID-19, strongly decreased 1 year later. Our findings provide a contribution to comparative research on micro- and macro-determinants that are crucial for the understanding of intergenerational support in times of crisis.

A multilevel model of the help-seeking behaviors among adolescents with mental health problems.

Objective: Mental health problems are highly prevalent among adolescents yet the utilization of mental health services among such a population is very low. This study was conducted to examine mental health problems and related help-seeking behaviors among a Chinese sample of adolescents. Methods: A total of 3,480 students were recruited from four middle- and high schools in Changsha City, Hunan province, and completed an online questionnaire that assessed their general information, mental health problems including depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide ideation, as well as their help-seeking behaviors from both formal (including psychological teachers and mental health professionals) and informal sources (including family, friends, and teachers). Results: The participants had a prevalence of 13.7% for depression, 11.5% for anxiety, 9.8% for self-harm, and 9.1% for suicide ideation. Although a high rate of help-seeking behaviors was observed (73.0%), most were concentrated in informal sources (99.3%), while only a small portion of participants resorted to formal sources (13.9%). Being female (OR: 1.45, 95% CI: 1.15-1.83), higher grade (OR: 1.32, 95% CI: 1.01-1.73), school mental health resources not available (OR: 1.39, 95% CI: 1.02-1.88), without suicide ideation (OR: 2.03, 95% CI: 1.42-2.90) were all associated with increased likelihood of formal help-seeking behaviors. On the other hand, complete middle school (OR: 0.36, 95% CI: 0.22-0.59), the middle level of academic ranking (OR: 0.64, 95% CI: 0.42-0.97), and higher father education levels (OR: 0.54-0.56, 95% CI: 0.33-0.90) were all associated with a decreased likelihood of formal help-seeking behaviors. Conclusion: Our results showed a higher prevalence of help-seeking behavior for emotional or psychological problems during the past year. Compared to the high rate of informal help-seeking behaviors, students showed a lower propensity to seek formal help for their mental health problems, which may be explained by individual-level, family-level, and school-level factors. Our findings provide important implications for the development and popularization of targeted, needs-based mental health promotion and education programs in the future.

Associations between paid and unpaid work among Norwegian seniors: competition, complementarity or continuity?

A key issue in policy debates on active ageing is how to increase older people's participation in both paid and unpaid work. This combined goal raises the question of whether the different activities compete for seniors' time and energy or whether it is possible to achieve both, since such activities may instead complement one another. To address this issue, we examine associations between paid work, informal help provision and formal volunteering among 62- to 75-year-olds by using longitudinal data from the Norwegian Life Course, Ageing and Generation Study (2007, 2017). Our analyses show that both work exit and part-time work are associated with a higher probability of doing unpaid work in senior years compared with full-time work. However, previous engagement in unpaid activities matters considerably, regardless of paid work status. Individuals involved in informal help or formal voluntary work in 2007 were far more likely to do unpaid work 10 years later than those who were not involved. Since seniors who are already engaged in unpaid activities before leaving the labour market are likely to continue to provide informal help and volunteer, we argue that initiatives to stimulate combinations of paid and unpaid work in late careers may be advantageous.

Intimate Partner Violence and Help-Seeking Among Ethiopian Women.

Although intimate partner violence (IPV) is a widespread phenomenon in Ethiopia, the relationship between help-seeking sources and IPV is not well understood. Better understanding of this relationship could play a role in preventing IPV. We used data collected in the 2016 Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey and limited our study to women who have ever been married, aged 15 to 49 years (n = 4469). Overall, the proportions of women who have ever experienced emotional abuse, physical, or sexual violence were 24%, 23.1%, and 10.1%. Women who sought informal help (family) were 2.42 times more likely (OR = 2.42; CI 1.29-4.55) to have ever experienced emotional abuse than women who did not seek family help. Neither formal nor informal help-seeking significantly associated with physical or sexual violence. The results may indicate difficulties women face in seeking help and cultural and social norms that tolerate IPV as an acceptable part of family life in Ethiopia.

Informal Help-Seeking Process Regarding Romantic Issues and Dating Violence: a Qualitative Study.

The present study focused on the informal help-seeking process, facilitators and barriers in the context of romantic relationship difficulties and dating violence (DV). This study also aimed to describe gender specificities involved in the help-seeking process. Data analysis was performed relying on the help-seeking and change model developed for intimate partner violence (American Journal of Community Psychology, 36, 71-84, 2005). A direct content analysis was conducted on semi-structured interviews of 80 youths. All participants reported having experienced at least one romantic relationship difficulty and half of them reported at least one experience of DV victimization in their current romantic relationship. Motives to seek support and help were mentioned by the participants, namely the need to be advised on how to solve their difficulties, to express their emotions and vent about their feelings, to obtain an external point of view, to be listened to and comforted, and to be validated on their interpretation of the situation. When experiencing difficulties, participants chose confidants according to the following qualities: share bond of trust, similar experiences, mutual help and reciprocity, relevant experiences in dating relationships, and a context of respect and non-judgment. Reluctance to ask for help was expressed by participants, namely discomfort about sharing intimate information or revealing feelings to a friend or family member, lack of support, and fear of being judged or vulnerable. Findings highlight the strategic role of peers and the importance of offering them tools to intervene as first responders in DV situations.

Socio-economic position and local solidarity in times of crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic and the emergence of informal helping arrangements in Germany.

In this article we study the emergence of local solidarity in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis in Germany. The COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing lockdown measures have had far-reaching and quite diverse consequences for different social groups, and have increased the need for practical help, childcare, financial aid, but also emotional support to cope with the psychological consequences of social isolation. Hence, even individuals who are not traditionally receivers of informal help have suddenly become dependent on it. Existing research on volunteering, caregiving and donations has shown that the provision of help and volunteer work has a social gradient, and that social inequalities therein can partly be explained by reference to individuals' attitudes and social networks. Against this backdrop, we ask: (1) Has the COVID-19 pandemic sparked the emergence of a new local solidarity? (2) What types of help are provided, and to whom? (3) How does socio-economic position affect the provision of different forms of help during the COVID-19 crisis? (4) Which sociological mechanisms can explain these inequalities in helping? Using data from a topical online-survey based on a quota sample which was collected, during the heydays of the first lockdown in Germany, we find that one of two respondents engages in some sort of local solidarity. Depending on the recipient and the way of helping - up to half of these helping arrangements has newly emerged and does not build on already existing (pre-crisis) help-arrangements. Differences between income and educational groups can mostly be explained by attitudes and social networks. Embeddedness in formal networks is particularly important for extending help to previously unknown recipients in the community. This article contributes to the literature on the social origins of help and the initiation of social capital during crises in general, and the political discussion about solidarity in the COVID-19 pandemic in particular.

Informal help in a local setting: The Dutch Social Support Act in practice.

The Dutch Social Support Act provides municipal social support for people that experience limitations in daily life and cannot rely on informal help from their social network to compensate these limitations. In this paper, we study whether the probability and intensity (number of services) of receiving municipal social support for daily limitations is affected by informal help by the social network (i.e. family, friends and neighbors). This study took place in Breda, a middle large city in the South of the Netherlands. We combined data from the Municipal Personal Records Database, the registration containing information on demographics and municipal social support receipt of all inhabitants, with data from the Municipality Policy Monitor, a survey containing information on daily limitations and informal help (n = 5256). We find that people experiencing daily limitations are more likely to receive municipal social support and also receive a higher number of support services (intensity). However, the perceived help from family and friends does not decrease either the probability or intensity of receiving municipal social support. Informal help from neighbors decreased the likelihood of receiving of municipal social support, but not the intensity. This implies that the overall relation between daily limitations and municipal social support is not different for people who indicate that they can or cannot rely on their informal network for help.

Patterns of Intimate Partner Violence Victimization and Survivors' Help-Seeking.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) survivors often do not seek critically needed help. A good understanding of the relationship between the pattern of violence and help-seeking is critical to developing adequate services for the survivors, as well as for reaching out to those who do not seek help. This study used the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey to examine how IPV survivor's help-seeking varies, depending on the characteristics of the survivors and the pattern of victimization. Logistic regression analyses were conducted, with the survivors' help-seeking and use of formal or informal help as the dependent variables. The study results show that women are the primary victims of IPV, that the pattern of victimization is associated with both whether survivors seek help or not, and which help sources they utilize, if any. IPV consequences are also associated with survivors' help-seeking, as are demographic factors such as age, gender, race, and immigration status.

Influence of Intimate Partner Violence Severity on the Help-Seeking Strategies of Female Victims and the Influence of Social Reactions to Violence Disclosure on the Process of Leaving a Violent Relationship.

This article uses data from the 2015 Spanish Survey on Violence Against Women, a nationally representative survey of 10,171 women aged 16 or above, to analyze the relationship between the severity of intimate partner violence and formal and informal help-seeking strategies, the link between the severity of abuse and the reasons for not seeking formal help, and the influence of social reactions to violence disclosure on the process of leaving a violent relationship. The results show that in Spain, many abused women disclose violence and seek help. However, the severity of the violence strongly determines their help-seeking strategies, especially the search for formal help. Women who experienced less severe incidents tended to minimize their importance and did not seek formal help. For informal help, the differences were smaller, and a high proportion of women talked about the abuse with someone within their social environment, regardless of the severity of the suffered violence. A supportive reaction to violence disclosure had a strong and positive influence on the process of leaving the abusive relationship. The implications of these findings for the design of public policies, education, and awareness-raising campaigns are discussed.

Promoting Informal and Professional Help-Seeking for Adolescent Dating Violence.

The present study examined factors that differentiate adolescents with varied intentions of informal and professional help-seeking for dating violence. Help-seeking intentions among 518 ethnically diverse adolescents from a rural, southern county who participated in a longitudinal study of teen dating violence were categorized into three groups: adolescents unlikely to seek any help, adolescents likely to seek only informal help, and adolescents likely to seek informal and professional help. Multinomial logistic regression found that gender, family functioning, problem-solving competency, dating status, having an adult to talk to about a dating relationship, and acceptability of family violence significantly predicted membership in the help-seeking groups. Implications for promoting informal and professional help-seeking and recommendations for future research are discussed.

Social Activities, Incident Cardiovascular Disease, and Mortality.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the relationships between social activities, incident cardiovascular disease (CVD), and non-CVD mortality among older adults in the United States. METHOD: Data from the Health and Retirement Study (2006-2010) were employed. Two measures of social engagement, volunteering and informal helping, along with two measures of social participation, attendance at religious services and social group meetings, were included. Mediation models for health behaviors were estimated. RESULTS: Multinomial logistic regression models demonstrated that volunteering provided the most consistent results in terms of a lower risk of incident CVD and mortality. Furthermore, volunteering at higher time commitments is related to lower CVD incidence and death; informally helping others at a modest time commitment is related to lower risk of death only. Health behaviors mediated the relationships. Social participation was not related to either CVD or mortality. DISCUSSION: Social activity is a modifiable behavior that may be considered a potential health intervention.

Women's intentions of informal and formal help-seeking for mental health problems during the perinatal period: The role of perceived encouragement from the partner.

OBJECTIVES: this study aimed to examine the relationship between women's intentions to seek informal help and to seek professional help and to explore the indirect effects of women's perceived encouragement to seek professional help from their male partner. Moreover, this study aimed to examine if these relationships vary as function of the presence of higher levels of perinatal distress. DESIGN: cross-sectional internet survey. SETTING: participants were recruited through advertisements published in pamphlets and posted on social media websites (e.g., Facebook) and websites and forums that focused on pregnancy and childbirth. PARTICIPANTS: 231 women (pregnant/ had a baby during the last 12 months) completed the survey. MEASUREMENTS: participants were questioned about sociodemographic and clinical data and were assessed concerning perinatal distress (Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale), intentions to seek informal and formal help (General Help-Seeking Questionnaire) and perceived encouragement from the partner to seek professional help. FINDINGS: the women reported a significantly higher intention to seek help from their partner than to seek professional help (p < .001). Although women with higher perinatal distress levels presented lower intentions to seek informal help from the male partner (p = .001) and perceived less encouragement from the male partner to seek professional help (p < .001), the presence of perinatal distress did not moderate the relationship between those variables. A significant indirect effect on the relationship between women's intention to seek informal and professional help occurred through the women's perceived encouragement from the male partner to seek professional help. KEY CONCLUSIONS: the results of this study highlight the important role of the male partner's encouragement in women's professional help-seeking for mental health problems. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: awareness campaigns about perinatal distress and about professional treatment benefits may be directed universally to all women in the perinatal period and should include women's significant others, such as their partners. Health professionals should recognize and support the prominent role of the women's partners in the help-seeking process.

Young people's difficulty in talking to others about mental health problems: An analysis of time trends in Switzerland.

The article aimed to analyse time trends regarding young people's willingness to talk about mental health problems. Data on 16,774 participants (16-20-year olds) of the 'Swiss Multicentre Adolescent Survey on Health' (SMASH) were analysed. The survey was conducted in 1992/93 and in 2002. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify predictors associated with the self-reported willingness of youth to talk about mental health problems with adults (other than parents), friends or no one. Socio-demographic characteristics were used as covariates. These analyses were first carried out for the total sample and, in a second step, stratified by suicidality of the participants. The percentage of participants who would talk about mental health problems with adults or friends increased between 1992/93 and 2002, while the percentage of those who would not talk about such problems decreased. This pattern was confirmed in the stratified analyses (i.e., for suicidal and non-suicidal individuals). Hence, Swiss youth seem to have less difficulty in talking with others about mental health problems than previous cohorts. This trend towards increased disclosure may have implications for claims that the prevalence of mental health problems has increased in recent decades.