1. Knowledge, attitude and behaviours toward mental illness and help-seeking in a large nonclinical Tunisian student sample.
- Author
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Fekih-Romdhane F, Chebbi O, Sassi H, and Cheour M
- Subjects
- Adolescent, Adult, Female, Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice, Humans, Male, Patient Acceptance of Health Care, Social Stigma, Students, Young Adult, Help-Seeking Behavior, Mental Disorders therapy
- Abstract
Background: Mental disorders are widespread among students. However, mental health help-seeking remains low. Several reviews and meta-analyses have shown that the main barrier to seeking help from mental health professionals is stigma. This paper aimed to assess stigma in a sample of students, and its association with help-seeking intentions and comfort with disclosing a mental illness., Method: The 'Community Attitudes toward the Mentally Ill', the 'Mental Health Knowledge Schedule', and the 'Reported and Intended Behaviour Scale' were administered to a total of 714 college students (62.2% female; mean age = 20.9)., Results: We found that 43.8% of students agreed that one of the main causes of mental illness is a lack of self-discipline and willpower, 21.9% did not consider depression as a mental illness, and 39.6% felt that they would be 'unlikely' or 'very unlikely' to seek the help of a health professional for mental health problems. Females had higher scores in help-seeking intentions (p < .001) and knowledge of mental illness (p = .019). Students' age negatively correlated with knowledge (p < .001, r = -.147). Pearson correlations indicated that help-seeking intentions positively correlated with more favourable future intentions of being in contact with a person with a mental illness (p < .001, r = .103) and greater mental health knowledge (p < .001, r = .163); and that comfort with disclosing significantly and negatively correlated with attitudes (p < .001, r = -.125)., Conclusion: To date, few young people see mental health professionals as a preferred source of support, and action is needed to change this perception or reform mental health services to make them more attractive to this age group., (© 2020 John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.)
- Published
- 2021
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