Community Gatekeepers’ Advice to Young People to Seek Help from Mental Health Professionals: Youth Workers and Sport Coaches

Abstract

This study investigated the intentions of community gatekeepers, youth workers and coaches to refer young people to mental health professionals, and examined the factors that influence the advice gatekeepers give to young people concerning helpseeking for mental health problems. The Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) was used as a framework, and gatekeepers’ attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control were expected to predict referral intentions. These constructs were expected to mediate the effects on referral intentions of past referral behaviour, own help-seeking intentions, perceived helpfulness of mental health services and emotional competence. Youth workers (N = 92) and coaches (N = 47) completed a self-report questionnaire that measured intentions to refer young people to sources of help and factors that influence those intentions. Path analysis revealed that the TPB constructs did not effectively predict gatekeepers’ referral intentions. Rather, past referral behaviour, perceived helpfulness and own help-seeking intentions had direct influences on referral intentions, collectively accounting for 39% of the variance in gatekeepers’ intentions to refer. The results are discussed with regard to practical implications for helping young people seek the mental health support they need.

Keywords:

• help-seeking
• youth
• gatekeepers
• mental health
• referral intentions