Development of a program to improve mental health help seeking

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26780400
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Clinical psychology
• Research Institution: Rissho University
• Principal Investigator: Nagai Satoru 立正大学, 心理学部, 准教授 (20513170)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 援助要請 / 被援助志向性 / メンタルヘルスリテラシー

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study identified information related to mental health help seeking and developed a program to improve it. This was a questionnaire-based study that showed that the most important predictor of help seeking was its anticipated benefit. However, medical information, such as the prevalence rates of mental disorders and where and how to seek professional help had few effects on help-seeking. Based on these results, a program for improving mental health help seeking was developed. In a randomized controlled trial, it was shown that the program could significantly improve the help-seeking intentions of university students, and improvements were observed four weeks after the intervention program. Although the effectiveness of the program was indicated, qualitative studies with clinical clients suggested that there are some people for whom different approaches are required to facilitate mental health help seeking.

Free Research Field

臨床心理学