Social Support, Resilience and Public Stigma as Determinants of Psychological Help Seeking Attitudes

Prema rezultatima nekih istraživanja čak 75% svih psihičkih poremećaja javlja se do 24. godine života što studentsku populaciju čini posebno ranjivom. Unatoč tome što se studentima nude mnoge besplatne opcije pružanja psihološke pomoći, premalen broj njih ju traži. Mnoga su istraživanja pokazala da su stavovi o traženju pomoći značajan prediktor namjere traženja pomoći među studentima sa psihičkim poteškoćama. Međutim, postavlja se pitanje što predviđa stavove o traženju psihološke pomoći. Jednim od glavnih prediktora stavova pokazali su se socijalna podrška i javna stigma dok je konstrukt otpornosti slabije istraživan u ovom kontekstu. Cilj ovog istraživanja je ispitati prediktivni doprinos percipirane socijalne podrške, otpornosti i javne stigme u objašnjenju stavova o traženju stručne psihološke pomoći. U istraživanju je sudjelovalo 215 studenata čija je prosječna dob bila 23 godine. Sudionici su ispunjavali Multidimenzionalnu skalu percipirane socijalne podrške (MSPSS; Zimet i sur., 1988), Kratku skalu otpornosti (Smith i sur., 2008), Upitnik javne stigme kod primanja stručne pomoći (SSRPH; Vogel i sur., 2005) i Upitnik stavova o traženju stručne psihološke pomoći (ATSPPH-SF; Fischer i Farina, 1995, prema Kim, 2007). Rezultati su pokazali kako su stavovi o traženju stručne psihološke pomoći u značajnoj pozitivnoj korelaciji s percipiranom socijalnom podrškom te njezinim dimenzijama prijatelja i značajnih drugih. Također je pronađena značajna negativna korelacija stavova o traženju psihološke pomoći i javne stigme, dok se korelacija stavova i otpornosti nije pokazala značajnom. Javna stigma je značajni prediktor stavova o traženju stručne psihološke pomoći, a percipirana socijalna podrška i otpornost nisu se pokazale značajnima. Pronađen je moderatorski učinak percipirane socijalne podrške na odnos između javne stigme i stavova o traženju stručne psihološke pomoći.According to the results of some research, as much as 75% of all mental disorders occur by the age of 24, which makes the student population particularly vulnerable. Even though students are offered many free options for providing psychological help, too few of them seek it. Many studies have found that attitudes about seeking help are a significant predictor of the intention to seek help among students with mental health problems, but the question arises as to what predicts psychological help seeking attitudes. One of the main predictors of attitudes proved to be social support and stigma, while the construct of resilience has been less researched in this context. The aim of this research was to examine the predictive contribution of perceived social support, resilience and public stigma in explaining attitudes towards seeking professional psychological help. The study involved 215 students with an average age of 23 years. Participants completed The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS; Zimet et al., 1988), The Brief Resilience Scale (Smith et al., 2008), The Stigma Scale for Receiving Psychological Help (SSRPH; Vogel et al., 2005) and The Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help-Short Form, ATSPPH-SF; Fischer & Farina, 1995; as cited in Kim, 2007) Attitudes towards seeking professional psychological help were significantly and positively correlated with perceived social support in general and with its dimensions of friends and significant others. Attitudes were negatively correlated with public stigma. No correlation was found between resilience and attitudes towards seeking professional psychological help. Public stigma showed to be a significant predictor of attitudes towards seeking professional psychological help, while perceived social support and resilience did not prove significant. A moderating effect of social support on the relationship between public stigma and attitudes towards seeking professional psychological help was found