Factors affecting intention to access psychological services amongst British Muslims of South Asian origin

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine factors that affect intention to access psychological services in a sample of British Muslims of South Asian origin. It was hypothesised that the level of shame/izzat associated with mental health would predict intention to access services when controlling for other, more established, predictors. Ninety-four participants were recruited from community UK centres and online sources. Results indicated that shame/izzat and biological beliefs predicted lesser intent to access psychological services, whereas higher levels of acculturation and education predicted greater intention. Further analyses suggested differences between people that had migrated to Britain and those born in the United Kingdom. Higher education levels predicted greater intention for all participants. However, shame/izzat and duration of habitation in Britain were significant predictors for migrant participants, whereas acculturation predicted intent for those that were born in the country. Clinical implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Keywords:

• psychological services
• intention
• acculturation
• shame
• izzat

Notes

Note

1. A forward entry method searches for the best predictor with the highest correlation to the outcome variable followed by the second highest predictor and continues to do this until all significant predictors are entered into the model. Predictors are only included if they improve the model significantly. The advantage of this is that only significant predictors are included in the final model. However, as such methods involve repeated statistical testing at each step of the regression, this brings the increased risk of error. Therefore, the regression was also completed using the forced entry method, which produced the same results as the forward method. In this method, all variables are entered simultaneously and remain in the model if they are significant or not. The results reported here were not dependent on entry method.