ArticleBMC psychiatry2021
Predictors of help-seeking behaviour in people with mental health problems: a 3-year prospective community study.
Article in BMC psychiatry, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 2 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 47 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Evaluation of a Training Course for Educational Professionals on Depression and Mental Health in Childhood and Adolescence
Evaluation of the Naturalistic User Experience of the Website "ich Bin Alles @Schule" (i Am Everything @school) - an Information Platform for Educational Professionals on Depression and Mental Health in Childhood and Adolescence
Who cites it
47 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 89 citations in OpenAlex.
- Research Review: Help-seeking intentions, behaviors, and barriers in college students - a systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines · 2025Pooled it
- Digital Health Interventions for Informal Family Caregivers of People With First-Episode Psychosis: Systematic Review on User Experience and Effectiveness.JMIR mental health · 2024Pooled it
- The help-seeking process and predictors of mental health care use among individuals with depressive symptoms: a machine learning approach.Frontiers in public health · 2024Trial
- Disentangling Objective and Subjective Reasons for Foregoing Help for a Mental Health Issue.Sociological focus · 2026Article
- Internalized Stigma and Help-Seeking Across Problems and Targets.The journal of behavioral health services & research · 2026Article
- Work-Related Stressors and Their Perceived Impact on Veterinary Work and Personal Life: A Multi-Country European Study.Veterinary sciences · 2026Article
- Explainable AI for Well-Being Prediction From Lifestyle Data: 2-Study Design.JMIR mental health · 2026Article
- Dimensionality, cross-validation and reliability of Help-Seeking Dilemma Scale.BMC psychology · 2026Article
- Beyond the Label: Psychometric Validation of the Persian Stigma and Self-Stigma Scales: A Methodological Study.Health science reports · 2026Article
- Determinants of mental health help-seeking in Europe: a systematic review based on the behavioural model of health services use.International journal of mental health systems · 2026Review
- Availability of psychological therapies and workforce participation of individuals with long-term mental health problems: a retrospective observational study.International journal of mental health systems · 2026Article
- Positive psychological well-being and psychological distress in higher education students.Journal of affective disorders · 2026Article
- Help-seeking intentions, barriers and associated variables for depression and social anxiety among adolescents in Bermuda.BMC psychiatry · 2026Article
- Self-compassion and psychological help-seeking delay: an indirect association through mental health problems and negative academic emotions.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Cognitive-attitudinal factors predict CBT-I enrollment willingness in Chinese sleep clinic patients: a knowledge-attitudes-practices survey.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Mental health help-seeking behavior among Ukrainian adults during the 2nd year of the 2022 Russian invasion: a cross-sectional study.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Mental health help-seeking in New York City: How intersecting identities shape informal and formal support use.PloS one · 2026Article
- Attitudes towards Tourette syndrome and schizophrenia amongst psychology students.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Evaluation of an online training course for educational professionals on depression and mental health in childhood and adolescence.Child and adolescent psychiatry and mental health · 2025Article
- The Influence of Explainable Artificial Intelligence and Mental Health Literacy on Professional Psychological Help-Seeking Behavior: The Mediating Role of Psychological Problem Cognition.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe majority of people with mental illness do not seek help at all or only with significant delay. To reduce help-seeking barriers for people with mental illness, it is therefore important to understand factors predicting help-seeking. Thus, we prospectively examined potential predictors of help-seeking behaviour among people with mental health problems (N = 307) over 3 years.
methodsOf the participants of a 3-year follow-up of a larger community study (response rate: 66.4%), data of 307 (56.6%) persons with any mental health problems (age-at-baseline: 16-40 years) entered a structural equation model of the influence of help-seeking, stigma, help-seeking attitudes, functional impairments, age and sex at baseline on subsequent help-seeking for mental health problems.
resultsFunctional impairment at baseline was the strongest predictor of follow-up help-seeking in the model. Help-seeking at baseline was the second-strongest predictor of subsequent help-seeking, which was less likely when help-seeking for mental health problems was assumed to be embarrassing. Personal and perceived stigma, and help-seeking intentions had no direct effect on help-seeking.
conclusionsWith only 22.5% of persons with mental health problems seeking any help for these, there was a clear treatment gap. Functional deficits were the strongest mediator of help-seeking, indicating that help is only sought when mental health problems have become more severe. Earlier help-seeking seemed to be mostly impeded by anticipated stigma towards help-seeking for mental health problems. Thus, factors or beliefs conveying such anticipated stigma should be studied longitudinally in more detail to be able to establish low-threshold services in future.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.