Attitudes toward participating in psychological counselling: An application of the theory of planned behaviour

Background: The Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) has been applied to different health and mental health related seeking behaviours. However, little research has applied an integrated approach using the TPB framework to gain a general understanding of individual’s intentions to participate in counselling. Aims: To apply the TPB model in order to explain and understand individuals’ intentions to attend counselling based on a given hypothetical scenario. Method: The TPB questionnaire was distributed to an at risk occupation type in north county Dublin and to an opportune sample of the general public (N=150). Results: Statistical analysis supported the utility of the TPB to be applied to examining individual’s reasons for participating in or avoiding undertaking counselling. Conclusions: The findings provide a more integrated understanding as to why individuals avoid utilising mental health counselling services and thus allow for the development of more appropriate intervention strategies to improve utilisation rates of mental health services