Understanding Australian university students’ mental health help‐seeking: An empirical and theoretical investigation
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ObjectiveTo investigate correlates of Australian university students’ help‐seeking intentions and actual service usage, testing and extending new models based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour and the Behavioural Model of Health Services Use.Method611 Australian domestic students (209 males and 402 females, mean age = 21-years; SD = 5.6) completed standardised measures and commented on facilitators, barriers, benefits, and potential improvements to student mental health services.ResultsA model based on Chinese university student data also fit the Australian data best. Bootstrapping revealed relationships between several predictors (knowledge concerning mental health and services, evaluated and perceived need, anticipated benefits, stigma concerns, and Asian values) and help‐seeking intentions were significantly mediated by attitudes toward help‐seeking and subjective norms. Logistic regression analysis identified predictors of service usage: help‐seeking intentions, perceived behavioural control, gender, study major, knowledge of mental health, social support, income, self‐rated mental health status, perceived need for help, and Asian values.ConclusionsPractitioners need to consider psycho‐educational and marketing approaches to engage students, raise awareness of available services, increase understanding of mental illness and treatments, and reduce stigmatized attitudes.
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Two articles (25%) found perceived behavioral control to be a significant predictor of behavior in the traditional TPB model, but not when the model was extended to include other variables [47, 83].
“Furthermore, two articles (25%) found perceived behavioral control to be a significant predictor of behavior in the traditional TPB model, but not when the model was extended to include other variables [47, 83].”
From Explaining adults’ mental health help-seeking through the lens of the theory of planned behavior: A scoping review (2022) · cites this paper as [83]
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- Authors
- Li, W., Denson, L. A., & Dorstyn, D. S.
- Affiliations
- The University of Adelaide (AU)
- Venue
- Australian Journal of Psychology
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2018-03-01
- Volume
- 70
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 30-40
- ISSN
- 0004-9530 (ISSN-L)
- 1742-9536
- OpenAlex
- W2596013011
- Cited by
- 45
- References
- 37
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 1
- FWCI
- 3.53
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Australian Journal of Psychology (publishedVersion)
- Adelaide Research & Scholarship (AR&S) (University of Adelaide) (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Johns Hopkins University
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health Treatment and Access
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Student Stress and Coping
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender Roles and Identity Studies
- Keywords
- help-seeking intentions, university students, student mental health services, mental health help-seeking, theory of planned behavior, mental health stigma, Asian values, perceived need for help, help-seeking attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, social support, mental health knowledge, service utilization
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