Professional mental health help-seeking intention and attitudes in Hong Kong : a self-regulation perspective

Abstract

Mental health problems contribute significantly to the global burden of disease, yet a huge gap exists between the need for treatment and service provision. Existing research on professional help-seeking has overlooked the important roles of illness perception and coping. Based on the Self-Regulation Model of Illness Representation, this study examined the roles of cognitive and emotional illness perception, and coping, in professional help-seeking related to mental health problems. A series of three studies provided support to the importance of illness perception and coping in professional help-seeking intention and attitudes. In Study 1, the factor structure of the Chinese Revised Ways of Coping Checklist was evaluated and established using the sample from Hong Kong (N = 562). In Study 2, results of an experiment using a community sample (N = 348) showed that people who experienced higher illness threat were more likely to seek help and seek help earlier than those who experienced lower illness threat. In addition, coping moderated the relationship between perceived illness threat and help-seeking intention: People with more adaptive coping were more likely to seek help and seek help earlier than those with less adaptive coping under different intensity of threat. In Study 3, results of a questionnaire study using a clinical sample (N = 214) showed that people’s current illness experiences were associated with both their cognitive and emotional perceptions of threat. The more negative emotions towards the illness, the more severe one’s cognitive illness perception; and coping mediated between cognitive perception and help-seeking attitudes. The findings from the research implied a differential role of coping in help-seeking intention and attitudes, and highlighted how people’s emotional illness perception influenced their illness perceptions, coping and help-seeking attitudes. The findings provide important insights that could inform mental health interventions.