| Title |
Identifying barriers to mental health help-seeking among young adults in the UK: a cross-sectional survey
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
British Journal of General Practice, September 2016
|
| DOI | 10.3399/bjgp16x687313 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Keziban Salaheddin, Barbara Mason |
| Abstract |
Despite the high prevalence and burden of mental health problems among young people, studies have suggested that they infrequently seek professional help. Understanding the barriers to help-seeking is an important step towards facilitating early access to mental health services and improving psychological wellbeing. To investigate why young adults may choose not to seek any support for an emotional or mental health difficulty. A cross-sectional online survey of young adults aged 18-25 from the general UK population. The survey consisted of an anonymous questionnaire that measured psychological distress, help-seeking preferences, and barriers to accessing help, which included the Barriers to Access to Care Evaluation (BACE) scale and an open-ended question to explore reasons for not seeking help in the past. Qualitative feedback was analysed using thematic analysis. Overall, 35% of participants (n = 45) who reported having an emotional or mental health difficulty did not seek any formal or informal help. The thematic analysis revealed that stigmatising beliefs, difficulty identifying or expressing concerns, a preference for self-reliance, and difficulty accessing help were prominent barrier themes among responders. Young adults experiencing psychological distress may struggle to access help from others. Stigma and negative perceptions surrounding mental health and help-seeking may explain why young people are reluctant to approach others for help. Improving public awareness of the services and resources that are available, as well as screening for psychological distress in primary care services, may be necessary to improve mental wellbeing among young adults. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 5 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 3 | 60% |
| Unknown | 2 | 40% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 5 | 100% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 595 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Ireland | 1 | <1% |
| Unknown | 594 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Master | 89 | 15% |
| Student > Bachelor | 80 | 13% |
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 38 | 6% |
| Researcher | 34 | 6% |
| Student > Doctoral Student | 30 | 5% |
| Other | 75 | 13% |
| Unknown | 249 | 42% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Psychology | 121 | 20% |
| Medicine and Dentistry | 68 | 11% |
| Nursing and Health Professions | 44 | 7% |
| Social Sciences | 30 | 5% |
| Unspecified | 13 | 2% |
| Other | 55 | 9% |
| Unknown | 264 | 44% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 17. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 12 November 2022.
All research outputs
#2,107,592
of 25,176,926 outputs
Outputs from British Journal of General Practice
#1,027
of 4,666 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#35,701
of 330,205 outputs
Outputs of similar age from British Journal of General Practice
#26
of 86 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,176,926 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 91st percentile: it's in the top 10% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 4,666 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 20.0. This one has done well, scoring higher than 77% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 330,205 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done well, scoring higher than 89% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 86 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 70% of its contemporaries.