Predictors and Outcomes of Help-Seeking Behaviors: A Longitudinal Investigation in Mental Illness

ABSTRACT

Millions of people around the world are affected by mental illness, yet a substantive portion of individuals with mental illness do not regularly seek help from medical professionals or utilize mental health services. Help-seeking involves an individual’s communicative intention and behaviors to solicit advice and/or treatment and thus is essentially a communicative process. This manuscript reports a longitudinal study that examined predictors and outcomes of help-seeking in mental illness contexts. Three-wave data from 223 participants clinically diagnosed with one or more mental illness conditions were collected and analyzed. Results indicated that expected outcomes of help-seeking from counselors were significantly associated with participants’ communication efficacy and target efficacy at Wave 1, which subsequently influenced motivation to seek help and actual help-seeking behaviors at Wave 2. Actual help-seeking behaviors predicted post-traumatic growth and cognitive reappraisal at Wave 3. Importantly, communication efficacy and target efficacy interacted in their effects on help-seeking motivation and behaviors. Theoretical implications for help-seeking communication processes and practical implications for mental health help-seeking are discussed.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Of the 548 participants who completed Wave 1 survey, 68.8% completed at least one follow-up survey (n = 377), and 31.2% did not return for any follow-up (n = 171). A series of independent samples t-tests was conducted to compare if participants who only completed Wave 1 survey (i.e., did not return for Wave 2 or Wave 3) differed significantly from those who completed at least one follow-up survey on key study variables measured at Wave 1 (i.e., outcome expectancy, efficacy perceptions, motivation to seek help, and help-seeking) and mental illness-related variables (i.e., general mental health, years since diagnosis). Results of the t-tests revealed no significant differences between the returning and non-returning participants in this study.

Additional information

Funding

This research was partially supported by the Research Support Program for Computational Communication and Intelligent Media Laboratory at the School of Journalism and Communication, Tsinghua University.