Open AccessFactors in Decisions to Seek Help From Self‐Help and Co‐Located Community Mental Health Agencies
Author(s) -
Segal Steven P.,
Hodges John Q.,
Hardiman Eric R.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
american journal of orthopsychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.959
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1939-0025
pISSN - 0002-9432
DOI - 10.1037/0002-9432.72.2.241
Subject(s) - helpfulness , mental health , psychology , selection (genetic algorithm) , mental health care , help seeking , social psychology , public relations , psychiatry , political science , artificial intelligence , computer science
This study examined 673 new users of co‐located mental health self‐help agencies run by consumers and community mental health agencies to evaluate the relative importance of predisposing, enabling, and need factors in site selection. Although need dominated help site choice, clients' attitudes toward the helpfulness of mental health treatment and their fears of coerced or inadequate care played an important role in setting choice, a choice indicative of a more complex motivational dynamic in help seeking.