Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Mar 9, 2020
Date Accepted: Jul 27, 2020
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
“It’s still taboo”: Help-seeking behaviors of transition-aged youth for mental health concerns – a qualitative study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Transition-aged youth are particularly vulnerable to mental health problems, yet they are one of the least likely demographic groups to seek help.
Objective:
The aim of this study was to explore influences on and patterns in help-seeking for mental health concerns among transition-aged youth who attend post-secondary school in Canada.
Methods:
A qualitative research design was used, involving 11 semi-structured focus groups with transition-aged youth (17–29 years) attending Canadian post-secondary schools. Thematic analysis was conducted to code the transcripts and develop themes.
Results:
Four main themes and sub-themes regarding the process and experience of help-seeking emerged: (1) the influence of formal service providers (accessibility; experiences); (2) the influence of social factors (system navigation; stigma); (3) the influence of health literacy (symptom recognition; acting on symptoms; digital tools and the internet; mental health awareness campaigns); and (4) the influence of low-intensity sources of support, namely self-help.
Conclusions:
Transition-aged youth seek help for mental health problems in different ways. Despite efforts to improve access to mental health services, transition-aged youth continue to face barriers to accessing these services, especially formal sources of support. Factors identified in this study that either hinder or facilitate help-seeking have pragmatic implications for developing help-seeking interventions and delivering mental health services for this population. In addition to other facilitators, family physicians are an important resource in the help-seeking process. Moreover, digital help-seeking tools have unique characteristics that may make these tools an important source of support for transition-aged youth.
Citation
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Copyright
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