Unmet need for professional mental health care among adolescents with high psychological distress

Sheppard, Rachel Y.; Deane, Frank P.; Ciarrochi, Joseph

doi:10.1177/0004867417707818

“…As a result, they might prefer to manage their mental health problem alone perhaps utilizing both positive and negative strategies such as problem-solving [72], substance uses, and isolation [73] as examples. The present finding supports past studies reporting a major barrier to receiving formal mental health service among university students with mild to moderate depression and anxiety is preferring to self-medicate [74,75]. The fourth barrier identified in the present study is denying mental health problems.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Mental distress, perceived need, and barriers to receive professional mental health care among university students in Ethiopia

Negash

¹

,

Khan

²

,

Medhin

³

et al. 2020

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Background: There is limited evidence on the extent of the perceived need and barriers to professional mental health service delivery to university students with mental distress in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs). This study was designed to assess the prevalence of mental distress, perceived need for professional mental health care and barriers to the delivery of services to affected undergraduate university students in Ethiopia. Methods: A multi-stage sampling technique was used to recruit 1135 undergraduate university students. Symptoms of mental distress were evaluated using the Self-Reported Questionnaire (SRQ-20) and a score of above seven was used to identify positive cases. The perceived need for professional mental health care was assessed using a single 'yes or no' response item and barriers to mental health care were assessed using Barriers to Access to Care Evaluation (BACE-30) tool. Percentage, frequency, mean, and standard deviation were employed to summarize demographic characteristics of the participants and to identify common barriers to mental health care service. Moreover, the association of demographic variables with total mean scores of BACE-III sub-scales was modeled using multiple linear regression. Results: The prevalence of mental distress symptoms was 34.6% and the perceived need for professional mental health care was 70.5% of those with mental distress. The top five barriers to receiving professional mental health service were (a) thinking the problem would get better with no intervention, (b) being unsure where to go to get professional help, (c) wanting to solve the problem without intervention, (d) denying a mental health problem existed, and (e) preferring to get alternative forms of mental care. Coming from a rural background, being a second and fourthyear student, and a family history of mental illness were significantly associated with barriers to receive professional mental health service. Conclusion: The high prevalence of mental distress, the paucity of mental health care, and the report of barriers to access what professional mental health care there is among Ethiopian undergraduate students is a call to address the disparity.

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“…This suggests that majority of the students receive mental health help from friends, family, relatives, religious leaders, and traditional healers [38], which is also common practice in the general population of Ethiopia [78]. The present finding is also supported by previous studies, where informal sources of mental health care reported by college students as a reason for not to receive mental health services in their university [71,79].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 84%

Mental distress, perceived need and barriers to receive professional mental health care among university students

Negash

¹

,

Ahmed

²

,

Medhin

³

et al. 2020

Preprint

0

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Context: There is limited evidence on the extent of the perceived need for professional mental health care and barriers to the delivery of mental distress services among university students in low and middle-income countries. Objective: The current study was designed to assess the prevalence of mental distress, perceived need for professional mental health care and barriers to the delivery of the service for regular undergraduate university students. Methods: A multi-stage sampling technique was used to recruit 1135 regular undergraduate university students. Symptoms of mental distress were evaluated using the Self-Reported Questionnaire (SRQ-20) and a score of eight and above was used to identify positive cases. The perceived need for professional mental health care was assessed using one question with binary responses, whereas barriers to mental health care were assessed using Barriers to Access to Care Evaluation (BACE-30) tool. The association of demographic variables with total mean scores of BACE-III sub-scales was modeled using multiple linear regression. Results: The prevalence of mental distress symptoms was 34.6% and the perceived need for professional mental health care was 70.5%. The top five barriers to receiving professional mental health service were (a) thinking the problem would get better by itself, (b) being unsure where to go to get professional care, (c) wanting to solve the problem by own, (d) denying mental health problem, and (e) preferring to get alternative forms of mental care. Conclusions: The high prevalence of mental distress, mental health care gap, and the report of barriers to professional mental health care among Ethiopian regular undergraduate students is a call for action. Keywords: Mental distress, Perceived need, Barrier, and Professional mental health care.

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“…As a result, they may prefer to manage their mental health problem using a healthy coping mechanism like problem-solving [69] or using unhealthy coping strategies such as substance use and isolation [70]. The present finding supports the past studies reporting a major barrier for receiving formal mental health service among university students with mild to moderate depression and anxiety was preferring to selfmedication [71,72].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

Mental distress, perceived need and barriers to receive professional mental health care among university students

Negash

¹

,

Ahmed

²

,

Medhin

³

et al. 2019

Preprint

0

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Context: There is limited evidence on the extent of the perceived need for professional mental health care and barriers to the delivery of mental distress services among university students in low and middle-income countries. Objective: The current study was designed to assess the prevalence of mental distress, perceived need for professional mental health care and barriers to the delivery of the service for regular undergraduate university students. Methods: A multi-stage sampling technique was used to recruit 1135 regular undergraduate university students. Symptoms of mental distress were evaluated using the Self-Reported Questionnaire (SRQ-20) and a score of eight and above was used to identify positive cases. The perceived need for professional mental health care was assessed using one question with binary responses, whereas barriers to mental health care were assessed using Barriers to Access to Care Evaluation (BACE-30) tool. The association of demographic variables with total mean scores of BACE-III sub-scales was modeled using multiple linear regression. Results: The prevalence of mental distress symptoms was 34.6% and the perceived need for professional mental health care was 70.5%. The top five barriers to receiving professional mental health service were (a) thinking the problem would get better by itself, (b) being unsure where to go to get professional care, (c) wanting to solve the problem by own, (d) denying mental health problem, and (e) preferring to get alternative forms of mental care. Conclusions: The high prevalence of mental distress, mental health care gap, and the report of barriers to professional mental health care among Ethiopian regular undergraduate students is a call for action. Keywords: Mental distress, Perceived need, Barrier, and Professional mental health care.

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Unmet need for professional mental health care among adolescents with high psychological distress

Cited by 60 publications

References 22 publications

Mental distress, perceived need, and barriers to receive professional mental health care among university students in Ethiopia

Mental distress, perceived need, and barriers to receive professional mental health care among university students in Ethiopia

Mental distress, perceived need and barriers to receive professional mental health care among university students

Mental distress, perceived need and barriers to receive professional mental health care among university students

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