Objective: This study investigated the perspectives of adults with hearing impairment on hearing help-seeking and rehabilitation. Design: Individual semi-structured interviews were completed. Study sample: In total, 34 adults with hearing impairment in four countries (Australia, Denmark, UK, and USA) participated. Participants had a range of experience with hearing help-seeking and rehabilitation, from never having sought help to being satisfied hearing-aid users. Results: Qualitative content analysis identified four main categories (perceiving my hearing impairment, seeking hearing help, using my hearing aids, and perspectives and knowledge) and, at the next level, 25 categories. This article reports on the densest categories: they are described, exemplified with interview quotes, and discussed. Conclusions: People largely described hearing help-seeking and rehabilitation in the context of their daily lives. Adults with hearing impairment rarely described clinical encounters towards hearing help-seeking and rehabilitation as a connected process. They portrayed interactions with clinicians as isolated events rather than chronologically-ordered steps relating to a common goal. Clinical implications of the findings are discussed. / <p>Funding Agencies|University of Queensland Graduate School||</p>

No description available.

Increasingly individuals are coming into contact with the criminal justice system. For millions of Americans this contact is mediated by the victimization or offense of a loved one. This study focused on exploring what the family members of victims and offenders identify as their needs and concerns in relation to the criminal justice system, assessing if the system is effective in addressing these needs and concerns, and understanding how these families' lives are shaped by interaction with the system. Grounded theory method was used to analyze the narratives posted on two on-line message boards, one for victims' families and one for offenders' families. The results from this study suggest that both groups express the same frustrations and concerns about the criminal justice system, and that both groups develop similar coping strategies to assist them in negotiating the system after initial incarceration or victimization.

The aim of the study is to investigate the relation between attachment style, early maladaptive schemas and attitude towards help seeking. Participants of this study were composed from 572 university students (264 female, 308 male). Participants were selected by convenient sampling method. The data was obtained by using the scale of Attitudes toward Seeking Psychological Help - Shortened (T&uuml / rk&uuml / m, 2001), Relationship Questionnaire (Bartholomew &amp / Horowitz, 1991), Young Schema Questionnaire-Short Form (Young &amp / Brown,2006) and a demographic information form. One-way analysis of variance used to analyze the data. The findings of the study indicated students with secure attachment style was found to have more positive attitude towards psychological help seeking than preoccupied, dismissive and fearful attachment styles. As for early maladaptive schemas, the students who have Social Isolation/Alienation schema, Emotional Inhibition schema, Entitlement / Grandiosity schema and Defectiveness / Shame schema show more positive help seeking attitude than students who don&rsquo / t have. In addition, female students were found to have more positive help seeking attitude than male students.

Research shows that a considerable number of children and adolescents suffer needlessly from psychological problems and only about 50% of those receive the necessary services. Considering the impact of untreated child psychological problems on problems in adulthood, it is important to examine the influence of attitudes on seeking mental health service for children. Currently, no known measure exists to measure attitudes toward mental health services for children. Building on previous research, the goal of the present study was to develop a measure of individuals' attitudes toward mental health services for children. Using confirmatory factor analysis, the factor structure was assessed using a sample of university students (N = 250). In addition, several hypotheses were tested examining the influence of previous experience with mental health services on attitudes towards psychological services and mental health stigma. Finally, differences in child characteristics on intended help-seeking were examined. The measure developed consists of 26-items scored from 0 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Overall, results indicated that the 3-factor structure of the measure developed was valid and reliable. Also, consistent with previous research on mental health services results supported the hypotheses of the current study. Future research will examine whether the 3-factor structure is replicated using a sample of parents.

No description available.

The role of peer gatekeepers is crucial in connecting individuals at risk for suicide related behaviors to mental health service providers. However, limited research has focused on the role of peers as potential helpers for those at-risk. The current study utilized a mixed experimental and correlational design to examine predictors of female college students’ referral intentions following hypothetical interactions with peers at-risk for suicide related behavior. More specifically, the current project examined the utility of an extended Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) model of peer-referral intentions. In addition to the original TPB constructs of attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control associated with referring a peer to a mental health professional, attitudes towards seeking professional help, perceived stigma associated with receiving professional psychological help, emotional competence, and symptom severity were incorporated into an extended TPB model. The sample included 284 female college students. Participants completed computer-based questionnaires both before and after the presentation of a theoretically and empirically informed vignette describing a peer who was characterized as low, moderate, or high risk for suicide related behavior. The results of this study suggest the utility of applying an extended TPB model to intentions to refer at-risk peers for mental health services. The final trimmed model, which included all of the aforementioned constructs except symptom severity, accounted for 78.9% of the variance in referral intentions. The findings indicate that, in particular, preventative interventions would likely benefit from emphasizing the role of attitudes towards receiving mental health services, attitudes towards peer referral, and subjective norms regarding peer referral, in order to maximize the role of peers as gatekeepers for college students in distress. Incorporating the findings from this study with findings from future research will hopefully lead to more informed, empirically-based interventions for enhancing peer referrals.

Mental health issues are widespread on college campuses. However, the majority of these individuals do not seek help. Prior research suggests many factors which may be related to mental health help-seeking including age, gender, and prior treatment experience. There has however been little work considering the context of the college campus on mental health help-seeking, specifically the influence of campus culture. Accounting for the context of mental health help-seeking may help to determine which social groups have the greatest influence on mental health treatment processes. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between perceived peer, student body, and faculty/administrator perspectives on different aspects influencing mental health help-seeking including attitudes towards treatment, stigma, and treatment barriers. Two hundred and twelve participants were recruited for the study. Data supported mediation for personal attitudes and barriers for the relationship between campus culture variables and mental health help-seeking. Implications for campus mental health policy efforts and directions for future studies are discussed.

Haitians in the United States represent the fourth largest immigrant population from the Caribbean. As in the case of many immigrant populations, Haitian immigrant adaptation has been challenged by social, political and economic factors, and as a result they have had to seek legal, health, and social services. According to the literature, help-seeking behaviors among Haitian immigrants have been associated with traditional indices of socioeconomic status, namely education, occupation, or income. This study takes a more in-depth look at the influence of social class by approaching it as cultural construct in the context of historical patterns of Haitian immigrant incorporation. Most Haitians arrived during the latter half of the 20th century in four successive waves, the 1957, 1970, 1980 and 1991 wave. Each of these waves of Haitian immigration represented a distinct context of departure and social class composition. A qualitative approach was used to obtain rich information on the role of help-seeking in the immigration and incorporation experience of Haitians from the perspective of immigrants who arrived during the four distinct waves of immigration. Individual and focused group interviews were conducted in English, Creole, and French with a purposive and snowball sample of 43 Haitian immigrants currently living in south Florida. Using a grounded theory approach, the analysis generated six categories related to the Haitian immigrant experience: orientation at time of arrival, establishment of social connections, issues of trust, generational effects, cultural constructs of social class, and perspectives on the help-seeking experience. Key findings emerged that identified the importance of social connections in Haitian help-seeking behaviors in the context of a complex Haitian social class construct imbedded in historical, political, and economic positioning. Specifically, across all immigration waves, regardless of social background--from the highly educated doctor who arrived in the 1950s to the rural peasant who arrived in the 1990s--Haitian immigrants identified an individual of Haitian descent residing in the United States on whom they relied for assistance in obtaining resources. This system of social connections reflected the social constructs of class existing in Haiti and remained a significant factor in Haitian immigrants' help-seeking behaviors during resettlement. / text

This proposed study will explore how university racial composition impacts the relationship between cultural mistrust, campus comfort, and help-seeking attitudes in a sample of African American college students. A moderated hierarchical regression will be conducted to determine if the cultural and contextual variables predict a significant amount of variance in help-seeking attitudes, and to discover if the variables’ interaction with university type significantly increased the amount of explained variance. The results will demonstrate how one’s comfort in the university environment and degree of trust in the majority group can contribute to seeking psychological services. Counseling and university policy implications will be delineated from the results. Limitations will also be discussed. / text