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Abstract
Background: It is a well-established finding that men are often unwilling to engage with mental health services, and that they hold negative attitudes toward psychological help-seeking. Consequently, men’s psychological problems often remain untreated, which in turn can compromise their quality of life.
Aims: The present experiment addresses this problem using a conceptual priming paradigm from social psychology called Scrambled Sentence Test as an intervention to change men’s negative attitudes toward psychological help-seeking.
Method: The Scrambled Sentence Test works by asking participants to unscramble sentences that unbeknownst to them include priming words – in this case, openness and communication-related words. Sixty-nine men completed the task (with priming or control words) under the instructions of a condition-blind experimenter.
Results: The primed group showed more positive attitudes (Mdn = 56.5) toward seeking psychological help compared to controls (Mdn = 40.0), p < 0.01; r = 0.38.
Conclusion: The findings are the first to suggest that conceptual priming of this kind can be used an as effective and time-efficient intervention by mental health professionals to encourage men to seek help for psychological problems.
Declaration of interest
The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.