Social Psychiatry, Vol. 44 No. 4, 2016.
Professional paper
Why don’t students seek help? Barriers to seeking professional help by students with mental health issues
Lana Bojanić
orcid.org/0000-0003-2067-2966
; University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of Psychology, Zagreb, Croatia
Ivan Gorski
; University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of Psychology, Zagreb, Croatia
Josip Razum
orcid.org/0000-0002-2633-3271
; University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of Psychology, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
Even though mental health issues affect a great number of students, only a small number of them receive
adequate professional help. This issue has not been sufficiently researched in Croatia, and this paper is
the first to assess the matter. The goal was to examine the reasons that prevent students in Zagreb from
seeking the professional help they need. The research consisted of two parts: a qualitative pilot study with
two focus groups and a quantitative online study (n=645), with 76 % female and 24 % male students,
aged from 18 to 27. The results show that 32.8 % of the students were clinically indicative of mental
health issues, but only 23.6 % of them sought professional help. Students report that the main barriers
which prevented them from seeking professional help were the following: the belief that their problems
are not serious enough, the dependence on themselves to solve problems, the lack of confidence in the
effectiveness of psychological treatments and the lack of knowledge about the places where they can seek
free psychological help. The male students and those who were more prone to self-stigmatization had
less positive attitudes towards seeking professional help. Additionally, no relationship was found between
mental health issues and attitudes towards seeking help. The findings of this study could be applied by
raising awareness of among all relevant stakeholders regarding this widespread problem, as well as by
creating apt interventions.
Keywords
university students; mental health issues; seeking psychological help; attitudes towards psychological help
Hrčak ID:
174631
URI
Publication date:
5.12.2016.
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