Ready, Willing and Able? An Investigation of the Theory of Planned Behaviour in Help-Seeking for a Community Sample with Current Untreated Depressive Symptoms
Open accessAbstract
Applying health behaviour change models, such as the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), to help-seeking for mental health problems can address the deficit in health care utilisation. However, previous studies largely focused on help-seeking intentions and not behaviour, which might be problematic due to the intention-behaviour gap. Hence, TPB and help-seeking were examined in a German community sample with current untreated depressive symptoms: 188 adults (Mage = 50.34; SD = 16.19; 70.7% female) participated in a baseline interview and survey measuring components of the TPB (attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control) and help-seeking intentions. They reported actual help-seeking from mental health professionals via telephone surveys 3 and 6 months later. To better understand the potential gap between help-seeking intentions and behaviour and to investigate the contributions of readiness, willingness and ability to seek help, two path models were constructed in accordance with the TPB controlling for covariates. Attitudes (β = .24), subjective norms (β = .25) and self-efficacy (β = .15) were significantly associated with intentions (R2 = 26%), which predicted help-seeking (Cox and Snell’s pseudo-R2 = 23%); controllability did not predict help-seeking. In sum, the TPB provides a reliable framework to explore help-seeking behaviour for mental health problems. Based on these findings, prevention efforts should focus on readiness and willingness to seek help (e.g. foster positive attitudes and social support of treatment). However, the role of ability, operationalised as perceived behavioural control and (perceived) barriers to help-seeking, warrants further research, as self-efficacy but not controllability was associated with help-seeking.
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The utility of the TPB to explain factors that contribute to decision-making, and how behavior change occurs, is thought to be particularly useful in understanding mental health issues, the help-seeking process, and developing interventions to facilitate mental health behavior change.
“The utility of the TPB to explain factors that contribute to decision-making, and how behavior change occurs, is thought to be particularly useful in understanding mental health issues, the help-seeking process, and developing interventions to facilitate mental health behavior change [28–30].”
From Explaining adults’ mental health help-seeking through the lens of the theory of planned behavior: A scoping review (2022) · cites this paper as [29]
Tomczyk et al. found attitudes, subjective norms, and self-efficacy (a component of perceived behavioral control) significantly influence intentions, and intentions significantly predict behavior, among people with untreated depressive symptoms in Germany.
“For example, Tomczyk et al. [29] found attitudes, subjective norms, and self-efficacy (a component of perceived behavioral control), significantly influence intentions, and intentions significantly predict behavior, among people with untreated depressive symptoms in Germany.”
From Explaining adults’ mental health help-seeking through the lens of the theory of planned behavior: A scoping review (2022) · cites this paper as [29]
Only three studies explored the ability of the TPB to predict future behavior.
“We only located three studies, which explored the ability of the TPB to predict future behavior [29, 55, 75].”
From Explaining adults’ mental health help-seeking through the lens of the theory of planned behavior: A scoping review (2022) · cites this paper as [29]
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Adams, C., Gringart, E., & Strobel, N. (2022) · Systematic Reviews · doi:10.1186/s13643-022-02034-y · Cited by 115 · see citing works
- Authors
- Tomczyk, S., Schomerus, G., Stolzenburg, S., Muehlan, H., & Schmidt, S.
- Affiliations
- Universität Greifswald (DE)
- Leipzig University (DE)
- Helios Kliniken (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Tomczyk, S.
- Venue
- Prevention Science
- Published
- 2020-03-05
- Volume
- 21
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 749-760
- ISSN
- 1389-4986 (ISSN-L)
- 1573-6695
- PMC
- PMC7366606
- OpenAlex
- W3009996459
- Cited by
- 92
- References
- 44
- Citations by year
- 2026: 12 · 2025: 19 · 2024: 22 · 2023: 20 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 7
- FWCI
- 10.65
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Prevention Science (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Informationszentrum Lebenswissenschaften (ZB MED) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SCHO 1337/4-1, SCHM 2683/4-1)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health Treatment and Access
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Behavioral Health and Interventions
- Keywords
- help-seeking, theory of planned behavior, intention-behavior gap, help-seeking intentions, self-efficacy, perceived behavioral control, subjective norms, attitudes, willingness to seek help, help-seeking barriers, community-dwelling adults
- MeSH terms
- Help-Seeking Behavior, Adult, Aged, Depression, Female, Germany, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Patient Acceptance of Health Care, Psychological Theory, Surveys and Questionnaires, Behavior Control
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