No description available.

abstract: The relation of stigma to help-seeking attitudes and intentions and how these relations differed across cultures for American students, East Asian, and South Asian international students, were the focus of this study. Previous researchers had found that not seeking professional psychological help when needed was prevalent for both American and international students. Stigma has been found to be a salient factor in influencing attitudes of individuals and may prevent individuals from getting the help they need. Both public and self-stigma were utilized to predict attitudes and intentions to seek psychological help in a sample of 806 students. Structural equation modeling analyses were conducted to assess the relationships in how self-stigma, public stigma, attitudes toward counseling and intentions to seek counseling will interplay for American, East Asian and South Asian international students, further expanding on previous help-seeking model (Vogel et al., 2007). Results indicated differences in factor structure of scales for the groups, and new factors were identified. With the new factors derived, different models of help-seeking intentions were established for each group, and distinct relations among the factors were explained. Furthermore, implications for future studies and clinical relevance were highlighted. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Counseling Psychology 2015

The diploma thesis is dedicated to suicide crisis intervention. The aim of this study was to determine what happens in crisis intervention with a suicide and what are the experiences of intervents that are members of the Czech national emergency system. The theoretical part is divided into three parts. The first chapter describes a crisis and a crisis help, including the psychological first aid and the crisis intervention. The second chapter describes suicidality in a wider context and chosen theories and suicidal risks are introduced. In the third part, possibilities of a suicide crisis intervention providing and recommended methods are discused. The empirical part is based on qualitative methodology. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 12 respondents, members of the national emergency system, investigating their experiences in the filed suicide crisis intervention. The interviews were analyzed by IPA methodology. The results are properly described and afterwards discussed with the available literature. In the conclusion, further research of suicide crisis intervention is recommended. Key-words: suicide, crisis intervention, crisis situation, psychological help, emergency system

No description available.

Evaluating the attitude of African American clergy toward parishioners seeking professional mental health services for mental illness has important treatment implications. Religion and spirituality are equally important determinants of mental health and can affect African American clergy's attitudes toward professional care for mental illness. Utilizing the health belief model (HBM), this quantitative study examined the role of theological beliefs, education, and personal experience with mental illness as they correlated with clergy's attitudes toward seeking professional mental illness services. Approximately 98 African American Protestant Clergy in the states of Georgia and South Carolina participated in this study. Data were collected using self-administered surveys via e-mail and mailings using the religious attitude scale (RAS) and the attitude toward seeking professional psychological help scale (ATSPPHS). A multiple linear regression analysis was used to examine the correlation of independent variables. The results of this study indicated that theological beliefs (p = 0.025) but not education (p = 0.084) or personal experience with mental illness (p = 0.078) had a direct effect on the African American clergy attitudes toward parishioners seeking professional mental health services. This research supports the idea that conservative African American pastors' attitudes toward congregants seeking professional mental health services are positive. The results of this study can influence social change by increasing access through clergy's pivotal role as the gatekeeper for parishioners who seek help for mental illness.

Till the present-day the problems of the professional pressure have been explored above all in the field of the EMS nevertheless the inquiry in the field of urgent reception was and still is the field much less explored. In the thesis three aims were specified: To evaluate the most stressing situations of the urgent reception. To compare the stressful aspects of the paramedics at the places of urgent reception with EMS. To suggest the ways of managing stress at the urgent reception. Two inquiry questions were asked to fulfill the aims of the work: Are the paramedics working at the urgent reception able to describe stressing factors? Are the stressing situations same when working at the urgent reception and at the EMS? The inquiry was realized by the collection and analyses of the data while the collection of the data was realized by the qualitative form, by the method of semi-structured dialogues. The dialogues were led with 14 middle medical workers who worked at the position of paramedics. The choice of the workers was random, some of them worked at the urgent reception in Prague, in the Motol Teaching Hospital, in the Střešovice Central Military Hospital and in Královské Vinohrady Teaching Hospital. The questions were ranked into four areas. The first area dealt with the stressing factors and their comparison with the EMS. The respondents were asked why they find their work more difficult and in which it is easier then working at the EMS. Futher which situations they perceive as the most difficult for their psychical balance, if they face some fear in their service or if they are afraid of anything. In the second area we tried to go back with the respondents to the subsequences of the situations they experienced during their service. We traced the situations with which they feel to be influenced at the urgent reception and what kind of situations they were. The third area regarded the professional intervention. Here we found out if the respondents needed the help of the professional psychologist. Consequently if they have a psychologist at their disposal within the framework of their workplace. Lastly the respondents should express their opinion about the professional psychologist in the context of their profession. In the last forth area we dealt with the managing of stress. In this area we found out if the respondents try to cope with the stress load during their service or if they go back to such situations. Then the respondents were to answer if they have some kind of active relaxation and how often they practise this kind of relaxation. Then there was time to answer questions regarding the problems of smoking, alcohol and drugs. Thanks to the determination supported by the inquiry that the most demanding situations at the urgent reception regard death or serious health condition of a young man or a child, it was possible to state the proposion that the paramedics working at the urgent reception were able to describe the stressing factors they deal with. From the results it was also possible to state that the stressing situations at the urgent reception and EMS vary. Also it is necessary to remark that although the stressing situations and their perception vary in specific details, the perception of the demandingness of the work at the urgent reception can be subjective.The results also showed that some respondents found their work easier than working at the EMS. But the paramedics of these two subjects agreed in perceiving the most stressing situation the serious heath condition and death of young people and children. This thesis could be used in praxis to create a conception of a preventive and intervention program as an instrument of managing stress coming out of these results and the mentioned points. It would be only necessary to modify them in the area of urgent reception and in the situations which the respondents find demanding.

No description available.

The major purpose of this study was to test a hypothesized structural model that included many of the variables that have been found to influence people's attitudes toward seeking psychological help and investigate if these variables and their inter-relationships are different for young versus older adults. This study offers a more comprehensive investigation than previous research by testing and modifying two structural models of help-seeking attitudes, one for young adults and one for older adults. This makes it possible to examine how these variables differ for the two age groups.

The thesis "Psychological and social aspects of coping with oncological gynecokogical illnesses (focused on breast cancer)" studies the demands and difficulties which women diagnosed with breast cancer are delaing with. In the theoretical part, attention is given to breast tumor and to the stages of the illness. It shows the needs and problems the women face and the possibilities of psychological help. This part of my thesis also describes different types of cure and its specifics and the changes it brings to the women's life. It is followed by coping strategies and defence mechanisms. In conclusion, the effects of the illness on personal relationships are outlined. In the empirical part, we map supporting psychological and other factors which helped with the treatment and with coping with it. The empirical part comprises 11 individual interviews with women who had breast cancer. The research methodology is supplemented with The Life Satisfaction Inventory. In the interviews we also focused on the factors of health care which were helping and the ones that could be improved. The results of the mapping qualitative study indicated two most important factors which helped the women to cope with this serious illness. It was social support and active coping strategies. In the sphere of health care, the...

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.