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Cited by 103Mental Health Treatment and AccessStudent Stress and CopingHealthcare professionals’ stress and burnout

Help-seeking behaviors and mental well-being of first year undergraduate university students

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Goodwin, John, Behan, Laura, Kelly, Peter, McCarthy, Karen, Horgan, Aine·2016·Psychiatry Research
DOI 10.1016/j.psychres.2016.09.015
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Abstract

University students demonstrate poor help-seeking behatabviors for their mental health, despite often reporting low levels of mental well-being. The aims of this study were to examine the help-seeking intentions and experiences of first year university students in terms of their mental well-betabing, and to extaplore these students' views on formal (e.g. psychiatrists) and informal (e.g. friends) help-seeking. Students from a universitytab in the Republic of Ireland (n=220) completed an online questionnaire which focused on mental well-being and help-seeking behaviors. Almost a third of students had sought help from a mental health professional. Very few students reported availing of university/online supports. Informal sources of help were more popular than formal sources, and those who would avail and had availed of informal sources demonstrated higher well-being scores. Counselors were the source of professional help most widely used. General practitioners, chaplains, social workers, and family therapists were rated the most helpful. Those with low/average well-being scores were less likely to seek help than those with higher scores. Findings indicate the importance of enhancing public knowledge of mental health issues, and for further examination of students' knowledge of help-seeking resources in order to improve the help-seeking behaviors and mental well-being of this population group.

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  • Students who experience increased mental health problems are especially less likely to seek help, and informal and web-based resources are preferred.

    “students who experience increased MH problems are especially less likely to seek help, and informal and web-based resources are preferred [11]”

    From Optimization of a Transdiagnostic Mobile Emotion Regulation Intervention for University Students: Protocol for a Microrandomized Trial (2023) · cites this paper as [11]

    The Abstract and Discussion report that students with lower well-being were less likely to seek help and that informal sources were more popular than formal ones. The Discussion also says students with lower well-being were more likely to use online help, but only 12.2% of students had done so; it does not establish that web-based resources were generally preferred. (LLM, conf=0.88)

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Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. Nicholas, J., Oliver, K., Lee, K., O'Brien, M., 2004. Help-seeking behaviour and the Internet: An investigation among Australian adolescents. Australian e-Journal for the Advancement of Mental Health 3(1), 1-8.

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Authors
Goodwin, J., Behan, L., Kelly, P., McCarthy, K., & Horgan, A.
Affiliations
University College Cork (IE)
Corresponding author
Horgan, Aine
ORCID
Venue
Psychiatry Research
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2016-12
Volume
246
Pages
129-135
ISSN
0165-1781 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.psychres.2016.09.015
OpenAlex
W2519794976
Cited by
103
References
41
Citations by year
2026: 8 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 23 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 1
FWCI
6.81
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ (tdm)
Locations
  • Psychiatry Research (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Arrow@dit (Dublin Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health Treatment and Access
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Student Stress and Coping
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Healthcare professionals’ stress and burnout
Keywords
help-seeking, psychological well-being, first-year students, mental health help-seeking, informal support, university counseling services, student mental health, help-seeking intentions
MeSH terms
Help-Seeking Behavior, Adolescent, Adult, Mental Disorders, Cross-Sectional Studies, Female, Humans, Ireland, Male, Patient Acceptance of Health Care, Students, Universities, Young Adult

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