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Physician referral to a psychologist: Testing alternative behavioral healthcare seeking models
Author(s) -
Hammer Joseph H.,
Spiker Douglas A.,
Perrin Paul B.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.124
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1097-4679
pISSN - 0021-9762
DOI - 10.1002/jclp.22729
Subject(s) - vignette , referral , psychology , help seeking , clinical psychology , context (archaeology) , theory of reasoned action , structural equation modeling , health care , depression (economics) , perception , psychiatry , mental health , social psychology , family medicine , medicine , paleontology , statistics , mathematics , macroeconomics , neuroscience , economics , biology , economic growth
Objective Primary care physicians (PCPs) often refer patients to psychological services, but help‐seeking factors in the context of behavioral healthcare referral are understudied. This study examined perceptions of seeking psychological help for depression by comparing alternative structural equation models derived from the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA). Method Internet survey participants ( N = 685 US adults, 77% female, M age = 45) imagined themselves in a vignette scenario in which they are experiencing depression symptoms and encouraged by a PCP to see a psychologist. Results Results supported the indirect model, in which the links between distal help‐seeking factors (i.e., self‐stigma, symptom recognition, perceived effectiveness of treatment) and intention to follow through on the referral to the psychologist were fully mediated by the more proximal TRA factors (i.e., attitudes, subjective norms, etc). Conclusions Our findings supported the use of TRA in understanding peoples’ intention to seek psychological help for depression when referred by their PCP.