Help seeking for emotional and behavioural problems in children and adolescents

Abstract

s Abstract In order to understand the discrepancy between rates of child and adolescent psychopathology and rates of mental health service use, variables influencing the help-seeking process need to be investigated. The present article aims to extend and refine previous findings by reviewing 47 recent empirical studies on parental and adolescent problem recognition and help seeking, and problem recognition by the general practitioner (GP). Several variables (child age, the presence of medical and school-related problems, informal help seeking, past treatment of parents or relatives, family size, and type of maltreatment) were discovered to influence parental/adolescent problem recognition and/or help seeking, while refinements were found for the effects of type of psychopathology, child gender, adolescent attitudes and personality, parental psychopathology, social support, and sociodemographic variables. Although recent studies uncovered several determinants of problem recognition by the GP (child gender, age, past treatment, academic problems, family composition, life events, type of visit, and acquaintance with child), this aspect of the help-seeking pathway remains relatively uncharted and, therefore, needs to be the focus of future research.s Key words help seeking -child and adolescent psychopathologyproblem recognition -mental health services

GPs' role in the detection of psychological problems of young people: a population-based study

“…This association has already been described, although there is no conclusive evidence. 13,18 While many studies reported that females were more likely to seek help than males, 13,18,31,32 no significant sex association was found in the present study. Saunders et al found, in line with the present results, that females were more likely to identify a need for help but that there was no sex difference in obtaining help.…”

“…These two signs of seriousness increase the likelihood of consulting, either spontaneously or encouraged by family or friends. 9,26 Although studies reported a similar influence of other concomitant psychological problems, such as behaviour disorders (antisocial, aggressive), substance abuse, or problems following sexual or physical abuse, 9,13,18 no significant associations were found in the present study.…”

“…26 In accordance with other studies, it was found that the more frequently young people see their GP, the more likely they are to consult for psychological problems. 8,11 It is interesting to note that potential confounding factors, like having a poor health perception or a chronic condition, that are known to influence help seeking [9][10][11]18 are not associated with it in the final analysis of the present study. Studies that have taken into account formal and informal resources have reported results similar to the present ones.…”

“…Other independent variables, described as potential confounding factors in the literature, 13,14,18 included:…”

Factors Associated with Mental Health Service Need and Utilization among Unaccompanied Refugee Adolescents

“…Family structure (1 or two parent) (e.g. Zwaanswijk et al, 2003a) and living situation (homeless, in home or out home placement) (Buckner & Bassuk, 1997;McMillen et al, 2005;Sourander et al, 2004) have also been found to be important factors in MHC use. Since URM often live in residential settings in host countries where they do not receive 24 h supervision or only very limited supervision, the discrepancy between the need for MHC as felt by URM themselves and the need as perceived by significant adults could be even greater.…”