Barriers and Facilitators of Seeking Psychological Help for Muslims in the United States

Abstract

Due to increased social, cultural, and political struggles for Muslims in the United States (MUS), affordable, accessible, and culturally appropriate mental health care is important for these individuals (Aloud & Rathur, 2009). MUS are an underrepresented group that use mental health services at low rates (Ciftci, Jones, & Corrigan, 2013; Khan, 2006). MUS, especially those with mental health concerns, hold a number of stigmatized identities, often including their race and ethnicity, religion, and mental health status that can result in discrimination (Ciftci et al., 2013). The purpose of this study was to examine factors related to self-stigma for seeking psychological help in MUS. It was hypothesized that Muslim beliefs and practices would increase self-stigma for seeking psychological help and that this relationship would be mediated by acculturation, perceived religious discrimination, and perceived ethnic discrimination. Structural equation modeling was used to test these hypotheses. The direct path between Muslim practices and selfstigma of seeking psychological help was not statistically significant. None of the hypothesized mediated paths were found to be statistically significant. However, results suggested that greater levels of Muslim practices were associated with lower levels of acculturation and that lower levels of acculturation were associated with higher levels of self-stigma for seeking psychological help in a sample of MUS. A number of demographic variables were found to be associated with the main study variables. These findings are discussed along with implications for counseling psychologists and recommendations for future directions in this area of study BARRIERS AND FACILITATORS OF SEEKING PSYCHOLOGICAL HELP iii DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to all seekers of God, mental health, and thriving individual and community lives.