Using variables identified in the social science literature believed to influence attitudes toward seeking professional counseling, an attempt was made to develop a model for predicting Hispanics' willingness to obtain professional help. A second purpose of this study was to compare college students (n = 158) with their parents on their attitudes toward mental illness and toward seeking counseling. Among predictor variables, social stigma and the belief that mental illnesses are untreatable were the primary variables predicting attitudes toward seeking counseling. The more college students and their parents perceived there to be social stigma attached to those seeking therapy, and the more parents believed that mental illnesses are untreatable, the less favorable attitudes they had about seeking professional help. These attitudes were linked to their acculturation levels; in general, the more acculturated they were toward the Hispanic culture, the more pejorative their attitudes were toward mental illness and their willingness to seek professional help. Last, college students in general had significantly more positive attitudes toward mental illness and professional counseling than their parents. Recommendations for providing counseling with Hispanic clients are provided in the context of the present findings.

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Interpersonal Violence in the form of school shootings is prevalent in American society and can negatively impact the mental health of survivors. Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) tend to bear the worse outcomes following such events due in part by effects of complex trauma (e.g., minority stress). Using the Andersen Model of Behavioral Healthcare Use within a sample of 4,627 students who were enrolled at the time of the Virginia Tech 4/16 shooting, the current thesis sought to: (1) examine predisposing factors as a mediator of the relationship among racial identity and help seeking, (2) to examine enabling factors as a mediator of the relationship among racial identity and help seeking and (3) to examine need factors as a mediator of the relationship among racial identity and help seeking. Using negative binomial regressions within a mediational framework, the relationships among racial identity and help seeking were assessed, with variables capturing predisposing, enabling, and need components of the Andersen Model of Behavioral Healthcare Use entered as mediators. The results showed that predisposing factors mediated the relationship among racial identity and help seeking behavior in Asian, Black, and White students, but not Latinx students. Enabling factors mediated the relationship among racial identity and help seeking in Asian and Latinx students, but not Black and White students. Need factors mediated the relationship among racial identity and help seeking behavior in White students, but not in Asian, Black or Latinx students. Clinical implications of these results and future directions are discussed. / M.S. / Mass shootings in educational settings negatively impact the mental health of survivors, especially Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) who often bear the worst outcomes to these events. Individuals who are survivors of mass shootings don’t often utilize mental healthcare services despite their effectiveness in trauma exposed populations. This study uses the Andersen Behavioral Model of Healthcare Use to examine the help seeking behavior of students following the Virginia Tech 4/16 shooting. The results of this study indicated that Asian, Black and White students’ functioning in several areas of their life (e.g., social life, academic life) prior to the event explained the relationship between racial identity and help seeking behavior. Social support factors also explained the help seeking behavior of Asian and Latinx students. Lastly, students’ need as measured by their posttraumatic stress symptoms explained the relationship among racial identity and help seeking behavior in White students. Clinical implications stressing the importance of widened outreach following mass trauma are discussed.

This study investigated computer users’ help-seeking behaviors within the context of accomplishing a novel and challenging computer task. In addition, this study examined how different help-seeking behavioral variables relate to both personal factors and outcome measures in an exploratory manner. Finally, a structural model examined the effect of personal factors on task performance through the mediating function of help-seeking effectiveness. A total of 67 undergraduate students participated in the study. Participants were asked to perform a challenging task in Microsoft Word. The usability software MORAE was used to record the interactions between participants and computer systems. Participants had access to five help sources: “F1 help,” “reference book,” “the Web,” “video tutorial,” and “lab assistant,” which differ in media type (electronic vs. non-electronic) and interactivity levels (high vs. low). This study found that participants showed a wide range of help-seeking behaviors. Some participants were more active in seeking help than others. Participants also engaged in different help-seeking patterns when using different help sources. A dominant help-seeking strategy was to stay with the same source used in the previous help-seeking episode. Help-seeking behavior affected task performances, but personal factors had no significant effect on help seeking or task performances. Based on the findings, the research value of this study, its practical implications, its limitations, and future research directions are discussed.

Help-seeking has been studied for over 20 years, but much is yet to be known about what variables influence parental help-seeking. In the present studies, participants were recruited from Texas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Study 1, included 260 caregivers recruited from local school districts and a church. Using confirmatory factor analysis, results supported the hypothesized 3-factor structure of the Parental Attitudes Toward Psychological Services Inventory (PATPSI) and internal consistency ranged from moderate to high. Study 2 conducted subsequent analyses on the data from Study 1. Correlation analyses supported the relationships among parental attitudes, stigma, and help-seeking. Secondly, parents with previous use of child mental health services reported more positive attitudes and less stigma than parents with no previous use. Thirdly, no significant gender differences were found, but there was a trend toward parents reporting higher intentions for boys than girls. Additionally, African Americans reported less positive attitudes and more stigma than the other ethnic groups. Finally, moderation analyses suggested that attitudes are more likely to influence help-seeking for European Americans but not for African Americans, and stigma appeared to influence helpseeking for Hispanic Americans but not for European Americans; no moderation effects were found for child gender. Finally, analyses indicated that only stigma and attitudes were significant independent predictors of help-seeking. Study 3 was a sub-sample from Study 1 (N = 118) who completed additional measures. The purpose was to replicate findings from Study 2 and examine test-retest reliability of the PATPSI. Test-retest reliability for the PATPSI was low in this sample. Overall, results were consistent with Study 2. Results indicated that parents with previous service use reported higher externalizing symptoms (not internalizing) than those with no previous use. Inconsistent with Study 2, Asian Americans reported less positive attitudes, and African Americans reported less stigma than European Americans and Asian Americans. Additionally, stigma tolerance was found to have a stronger influence on European Americans likelihood of future service use than for African Americans. Furthermore, the interaction between problem type and gender was not a significant predictor of likelihood of future use. Finally, only previous service use and attitudes (not stigma) were independent predictors of likelihood of future use. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

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Thesis (M.A.)--Miami University, Dept. of Psychology, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 33-40).

Thesis (M.S.W.)--University of Hong Kong, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 103-108).