<p>This thesis investigates help-seeking and effects of help-seeking on causal attributions for helping (i.e., what people believe caused help or lack of help). Additionally, it examines self-serving and other-serving attributions (i.e., to augment a person's positive sides and diminish the negative ones). Help-seeking was investigated in questionnaires, describing situations where spouses collaborate in doing household chores. A first study showed that women and men report using direct styles (i.e., explicitly verbalising the requests) more often than indirect ones. A second study showed that spouses inaccurately believe that wives in general would report more indirect and less direct styles than husbands in general. Causal attributions for helping were investigated in four studies with different methods, settings, and types of relationships (questionnaires, laboratory experiment; spouses doing chores, students and strangers doing computerized exercises). Consistent support was obtained for a predicted interaction between helping and the clarity of the request for help in determining the attributions. It is suggested that this finding is an effect of people comparing the behavior of one person with their beliefs about how other persons behave (i.e., consensus). Additionally, the findings did not support the claims that people make self-serving attributions and that the latter would be more pronounced among men than women. However, the attributions were other-serving. The thesis gives a novel understanding of everyday life by combining the issues of help-seeking and causal attributions. It also offers a discussion of the previous literature and of theoretical and applied implications of the findings.</p>

This thesis investigates help-seeking and effects of help-seeking on causal attributions for helping (i.e., what people believe caused help or lack of help). Additionally, it examines self-serving and other-serving attributions (i.e., to augment a person's positive sides and diminish the negative ones). Help-seeking was investigated in questionnaires, describing situations where spouses collaborate in doing household chores. A first study showed that women and men report using direct styles (i.e., explicitly verbalising the requests) more often than indirect ones. A second study showed that spouses inaccurately believe that wives in general would report more indirect and less direct styles than husbands in general. Causal attributions for helping were investigated in four studies with different methods, settings, and types of relationships (questionnaires, laboratory experiment; spouses doing chores, students and strangers doing computerized exercises). Consistent support was obtained for a predicted interaction between helping and the clarity of the request for help in determining the attributions. It is suggested that this finding is an effect of people comparing the behavior of one person with their beliefs about how other persons behave (i.e., consensus). Additionally, the findings did not support the claims that people make self-serving attributions and that the latter would be more pronounced among men than women. However, the attributions were other-serving. The thesis gives a novel understanding of everyday life by combining the issues of help-seeking and causal attributions. It also offers a discussion of the previous literature and of theoretical and applied implications of the findings.

The present study sought to examine Asian American college stress and school satisfaction for Claremont Colleges students. Participants completed a survey which will include four measures: Attitudes Toward Professional Help-Seeking (Halgin, Weaver, Edell & Spencer, 1987), modified Social Support Scale (Duran, Oetzel, Lucero, Jiang, Novins, Manson, & Beals, 2005), College Student Stress Scale (Feldt, 2008), the School Satisfaction Scale (Butler, 2007), and questions about the participant’s involvement in race-based, and non-race-based organizations and mentoring programs. Asian Americans are unsupported because of their academic performance and thus receive less institutional support (Kiang & Lee, 1993). The stigma of mental health problems is significantly and negatively related to attitudes toward professional help seeking in the Asian American community (Masuda & Boone, 2011). Race-based organizations and mentoring programs facilitate adjustment to college through providing a community and ways to explore one’s identity (Kim, Goto, Bai, Kim, & Wong, 2001; Museus, 2008). It was expected that attitudes toward help seeking and support would be significantly different between Asian Americans and Whites. It was expected that involvement in ethnic-/race-based organizations and mentor programs would mediate the relationship between demographics and satisfaction, support and stress. Results revealed significantly different attitudes toward help seeking between Asian Americans and Whites. Involvement in race-based organization and mentoring program predicted school satisfaction. Involvement in a race-based mentoring program predicted stress. Implications of this study are discussed in relation to literature, clinicians, and on-campus support services.

University of Macau / Faculty of Education

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities / Department of Psychology

This qualitative research used the Long Interview method to study cultural and gender influences on mental health, health beliefs, health behaviour, help-seeking and treatment expectations for mental health problems in newcomers to Canada who are members of an ethnocultural, visible minority population - the Sri Lankan Tamils. The study employed a comparative design and analyzed data from interviews with Tamil men (N=8) and Tamil women (N=8) who self-identified as having been diagnosed with depression, and service providers (N=8) who provide frontline mental health and related services to the Sri Lankan Tamil community. The objectives were to a) understand cultural and gender factors inherent in the Sri Lankan Tamil community; b) investigate how these cultural and gender factors impact mental health and influence the trajectory of help-seeking and treatment for depression in the Sri Lankan Tamil community; c) explore the intersection of culture and gender as it relates to health behaviour; and d) explore service providers’ perceptions of the influence of culture and gender in relation to help-seeking for mental health problems and the application of this understanding to service delivery. The study found that the respondents equated social function with health and that this concept informed help-seeking and treatment expectations. Socially appropriate functioning was seen as an indicator of health, and this differed by gender. Gender-differentiated social stressors contributed to depression. Women played a role as enablers of care, both for family members and acquaintances. Men were more resistant to help-seeking and tended to disengage from care. There was a distinct preference for service providers who understood the culture and spoke Tamil. Religious groups served a social support function. Family physicians and Tamil service providers in the social service sectors were identified as key players in the pathways to care. Service providers did not appear to understand the community’s holistic view of health; however, they did use their knowledge of the community to make adaptations to practice. Recommendations that result from these findings include health promotion and prevention strategies beyond the traditional health care system, targeted culture and gender-informed interventions, and the need for multisectoral collaborations.

This qualitative research used the Long Interview method to study cultural and gender influences on mental health, health beliefs, health behaviour, help-seeking and treatment expectations for mental health problems in newcomers to Canada who are members of an ethnocultural, visible minority population - the Sri Lankan Tamils. The study employed a comparative design and analyzed data from interviews with Tamil men (N=8) and Tamil women (N=8) who self-identified as having been diagnosed with depression, and service providers (N=8) who provide frontline mental health and related services to the Sri Lankan Tamil community. The objectives were to a) understand cultural and gender factors inherent in the Sri Lankan Tamil community; b) investigate how these cultural and gender factors impact mental health and influence the trajectory of help-seeking and treatment for depression in the Sri Lankan Tamil community; c) explore the intersection of culture and gender as it relates to health behaviour; and d) explore service providers’ perceptions of the influence of culture and gender in relation to help-seeking for mental health problems and the application of this understanding to service delivery. The study found that the respondents equated social function with health and that this concept informed help-seeking and treatment expectations. Socially appropriate functioning was seen as an indicator of health, and this differed by gender. Gender-differentiated social stressors contributed to depression. Women played a role as enablers of care, both for family members and acquaintances. Men were more resistant to help-seeking and tended to disengage from care. There was a distinct preference for service providers who understood the culture and spoke Tamil. Religious groups served a social support function. Family physicians and Tamil service providers in the social service sectors were identified as key players in the pathways to care. Service providers did not appear to understand the community’s holistic view of health; however, they did use their knowledge of the community to make adaptations to practice. Recommendations that result from these findings include health promotion and prevention strategies beyond the traditional health care system, targeted culture and gender-informed interventions, and the need for multisectoral collaborations.

The main purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of perceived social support, psychological distress, prior help-seeking experience, and gender on attitudes toward seeking psychological help of university students. In addition to the main purpose / gender, faculty, living arrangement, and year of study differences in attitudes toward seeking psychological help and students&rsquo / knowledge about the psychological counseling services of the METU Health and Guidance Center were investigated. The sample consisted of 417 (223 female, 194 male) undergraduate students of Middle East Technical University. The data was gathered using the scale of Attitudes Toward Seeking Psychological Help-Shortened (ASPH-S), the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) and a demographic information form. It was found that nearly half of the participants (47%) had knowledge about the psychological counseling services of the METU Health and Guidance Center. Friends were the most frequently stated sources of help (59%) in times of need for personal problems. Females had more positive attitudes toward seeking psychological help than males. Students of the Faculty of the Arts and Sciences, and students of the Faculty of the Education were found to have more favorable attitudes than of the Faculty of Engineering students. Finally, hierarchical regression analysis showed that perceived social support, prior help-seeking experience, and gender significantly predicted attitudes toward seeking psychological help. However, psychological distress was not associated with help-seeking attitudes.

Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) is common and associated with high mortality. Effective treatments are available but require prompt administration. Studies have consistently demonstrated that delays to treatment are common, with patient decision time accounting for most delay. Interventions aimed at reducing delay have had little success. Evidence suggests that psychological factors, in particular illness representations (Leventhal’s Commonsense Model of Self-Regulation (CS-SRM)) might be important in relation to patient decision time. This thesis describes a two-stage investigation, undertaken within NHS 24, exploring the content and timing of people’s initial presentations with possible symptoms of ACS. The first stage comprised a CS-SRM-guided content analysis of peoples’ initial symptom presentations. The second stage utilised the Illness Perception Questionnaire-revised (IPQ-R) to explore how illness representations relate to patient decision time. Results show that the components of illness representations accounted for 95% of participants’ initial presentations. The components most related to behaviour and outcome were volunteered least (cause, consequences, cure/control and coherence). Decision time for most participants (89%) was out-with the ideal and appraisal time accounted for most of the delay. Appraisal delay was shorter for those with fewer symptoms and high emotion. Illness delay was longer where the person making the call reported high treatment control. Interventions may need to raise awareness of the range of possible presentations and of the consequences associated with delay. Interventions should also provide guidance as to an appropriate time-limit for self-care. Individuals may benefit from being informed about how to respond to strong emotional responses. Interventions aimed at bystanders may need to differ from those for patients. People at high risk of ACS should be informed about how and when to access healthcare out-of-hours.

This study explored the patterns of help-seeking of 64 urban high school adolescents in Grades 10 and 11 in two South African provinces, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo. The type of problems faced by these adolescents such as interpersonal relationships, family and peer pressure, and whether or not they sought help for these problems was explored. Adolescents' preference for different sources of help for different problems is also discussed. Of concern was what mediated whether and where help was sought. This study also examined the role that the Life Orientation Programme and Guidance Programme played in the help-seeking behaviours of these adolescents. Data was collected using focus groups and individual interviews and analysed using a thematic method of data analysis. Adolescents across the two provinces seemed to have common problems and dealt with them in a similar manner. The adolescents' problems included peer pressure, family, academic anxiety and drug usage. To solve those problems adolescents seemed to prefer informal to formal sources to confide in. The Life Orientation Programme (LOP) seemed to play no significant role at this stage to the adolescents concerned. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2004.