Self-stigma and the intention to seek psychological help online compared to face-to-face

Objectives: The present study aims to investigate the impact of helpseeking self-stigma on the preference and intention to seek psychologicaltreatment delivered online compared to face-to-face. Design: This study uses survey data from two Swedish samples.Sample 1 consists of 267 students (78.7% women) with a mean ageof 24.5 (SD = 6.1). Sample 2 consists of 195 primary care patients(56.9% women) with a mean age of 45.3 (SD = 17.7). Results: The number of participants who preferred online treatmentwas higher if seeking psychological help for a perceived stigmatized problem compared to mental health problems in general. The oddsratios for choosing treatment online over face-to-face were 6.41,95% CI [4.05, 10.14] in Sample 1 and 11.19, 95% CI [5.29, 23.67]in Sample 2. In addition, findings suggest that higher levels of helpseeking self-stigma predicted higher intention to seek treatmentonline compared to face-to-face. Conclusions: Our results suggest that online interventions may facilitatehelp-seeking among individuals deterred by stigma