Mental illness stigma and attitudes toward professional help-seeking among college students

• Autor(a) principal: Pombal, Nádia Pinto
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.6/13186
• topic: Crenças; Doença Mental; Estigma; Pandemia Covid-19; Procura de Ajuda; Domínio/Área Científica::Ciências Sociais::Psicologia

This study analysed college students’ beliefs about mental illness and attitudes toward formal psychological help-seeking. The sample is composed of 282 students from the 1st and 3rd undergraduate years of Psychology, Sociology, Fashion Design and Sports Science courses at the University of Beira Interior. The majority of the sample (75.4%) is female, while only 24.6% are male, with a mean age of 20.04 years. The scales used were Inventory of Beliefs about Mental Illness (IBMI) and Inventory of Attitudes Toward Seeking Mental Health Services (IATSMHS), as well as a sociodemographic questionnaire. Results showed that females, 3rd year students and Psychology students have fewer stigmatizing beliefs about mental illness and more positive attitudes towards professional help-seeking. Moreover, there were statistically significant differences in beliefs and attitudes in terms of psychological support and familiarity with mental illness. We also glimpsed at the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on students’ mental health and the change of opinions and attitudes toward mental illness among this population. Correlation analysis showed negative correlations between stigmatizing beliefs about mental illness and attitudes towards seeking mental health services. Finally, a cluster analysis identified two profiles of individuals that reflect different levels of stigma and help-seeking attitudes, associated with the sociodemographic variables. The conclusions obtained agree with the literature, as there are differences based on gender, academic year, course and familiarity with mental illness, concerning both stigma of mental illness and help-seeking attitudes. Therefore, this study can contribute to scientific research by providing some theoretical insights into the stigma of mental illness and help-seeking attitudes and their relationship with other relevant variables. Additionally, the identification of two profiles can help improve and adjust stigma reduction intervention programmes among this population.