Dataset Information

Mental Health Stigma and Help-Seeking Intentions in Police Employees.

ABSTRACT: Mental health problems among police employees are exacerbated by negative attitudes and beliefs around mental health help-seeking that are perpetuated by police culture. We collected anonymous survey data from 259 civilian and commissioned police employees in a mid-sized, Midwestern U.S. city to test hypothesized relationships among help-seeking stigma, help-seeking attitudes, and intended help-seeking behavior. Results demonstrated that mental help-seeking stigma was negatively associated with help-seeking attitudes, and in turn with reduced mental health help-seeking intentions. Structural equation modeling provided support for a model linking help-seeking stigma, help-seeking attitudes, and intentions to seek help. This path model was moderated by psychological distress and previous participation in mindfulness training, which had opposing effects on help-seeking stigma and (indirectly) on intended help-seeking. Results provide insight into policies, practices, and interventions that police agencies may enact to combat stigma, positively influence mental health help-seeking, and improve the mental health and well-being of police employees and the broader community.

SUBMITTER: Grupe DW

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9986855 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Mental Health Stigma and Help-Seeking Intentions in Police Employees.

Grupe Daniel W DW

Journal of community safety & well-being 20230223 Suppl 1

Mental health problems among police employees are exacerbated by negative attitudes and beliefs around mental health help-seeking that are perpetuated by police culture. We collected anonymous survey data from 259 civilian and commissioned police employees in a mid-sized, Midwestern U.S. city to test hypothesized relationships among help-seeking stigma, help-seeking attitudes, and intended help-seeking behavior. Results demonstrated that mental help-seeking stigma was negatively associated with ...[more]

PMID: 36883066

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Project description:BackgroundOnly about half the people with depression seek professional health care services. To constitute the different predictors and associating variables of health care utilisation, we model the process and aim to test our hypothesised Seeking Mental Health Care Model. The model includes empirical influences on the help-seeking process to predict actual behaviour and incorporates superordinate (stigma, treatment experiences) as well as intermediate attitudinal variables (continuum and causal beliefs, depression literacy and self-efficacy).MethodAll variables are examined in an online study (baseline, three- and six-month follow-up). The sample consisted of adults with depressive symptoms (PHQ-9 sum score ≥ 8), currently not receiving mental health care treatment. To examine the prediction of variables explaining help-seeking behaviour, a path model analysis was carried out (lavaan package, software R).ResultsAltogether, 1368 participants (Mage = 42.38, SDage = 15.22, 65.6% female) were included, 983 participating in at least one follow-up. Model fit was excellent (i.e., RMSEA = 0.059, CFI = 0.989), and the model confirmed most of the hypothesised predictions. Intermediary variables were significantly associated with stigma and experiences. Depression literacy (ß = .28), continuum beliefs (ß = .11) and openness to a balanced biopsychosocial causal model (ß = .21) significantly influenced self-identification (R2 = .35), which among the causal beliefs and self-efficacy influenced help-seeking intention (R2 = .10). Intention (ß = .40) prospectively predicted help-seeking behaviour (R2 = .16).ConclusionThe Seeking Mental Health Care Model provides an empirically validated conceptualisation of the help-seeking process of people with untreated depressive symptoms as a comprehensive approach considering internal influences. Implications and open questions are discussed, e.g., regarding differentiated assessment of self-efficacy, usefulness of continuum beliefs and causal beliefs in anti-stigma work, and replication of the model for other mental illnesses.Trial registrationGerman Clinical Trials Register: DRKS00023557. Registered 11 December 2020. World Health Organization, Universal Trial Number: U1111-1264-9954. Registered 16 February 2021.

Project description:BackgroundObsessive-compulsive (OC) disorder is a debilitating disorder with a high delay in help-seeking that could be associated with two barriers that may differ between OC content dimensions: public stigma and mental health literacy.ObjectivesWe aim to describe and analyze the differences among OC content dimensions in public stigma, social distance desire, mental health literacy, and help-seeking intention in a sample of the mental health-naïve population.MethodsA total of 487 participants from the Spanish community with no previous knowledge of or experience with OCD were randomly allocated one of six vignettes describing a person with OC symptoms of one out of six contents (i.e., aggression/harm; sexual; religious/blasphemous/immoral; contamination/washing; doubts/checking; or superstition/symmetry/order). After reading the vignette, participants completed the following questionnaires associated with their vignette: Attribution Questionnaire, General Help-Seeking Questionnaire, Social Distance Scale, and Mental Health Literacy Questionnaire.ResultsThere were significant differences among OC content dimensions on the variables of interest. Aggression/harm OC content was associated with the highest public stigma and discriminating desire, and together with the religious/blasphemous/immoral OC contents were associated with the highest social distance desire. Although no differences appear between contents on intention to seek for formal treatment, participants would request less informal support for their sexual OC content than for the other categories. Contamination, doubts/checking, and superstition/symmetry/order OC contents were more frequently identified as OCD, although only around 50% or less of the sample identified the sexual, superstition/symmetry/order, doubts/checking, and religious/blasphemous/immoral OC contents as a mental health problem.ConclusionsInterventions to reduce stigma and increase help seeking are necessary and should consider OC heterogeneity.

Dataset Information

Mental Health Stigma and Help-Seeking Intentions in Police Employees.

Publications

Mental Health Stigma and Help-Seeking Intentions in Police Employees.

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