Improving Mental Health Help-Seeking Behaviours for Male Students: A Framework for Developing a Complex Intervention

Abstract

<jats:p>Men are less likely to seek help for mental health difficulties and this process is often used to help explain the disproportionally higher suicide rates compared to women. Furthermore, university students are often regarded as a vulnerable population group with a lower propensity to seek help. Thus, male students are a very high-risk group that is even more reluctant to seek help for mental health difficulties, placing them at high risk of suicide. Often, student mental health problems are highlighted in the media, but very few evidence-based solutions specifically designed for male students exist. The current paper seeks to provide a comprehensive framework about how to better design mental health interventions that seek to improve male students’ willingness to access psychological support. The Medical Research Council’s (MRC’s) framework for developing a complex intervention was used to develop an intervention relevant to male students. In this paper, previous help-seeking interventions and their evaluation methods are first described, secondly, a theoretical framework outlining the important factors male students face when accessing support, and thirdly, how these factors can be mapped onto a model of behaviour change to inform the development of an evidence-based intervention are discussed. Finally, an example intervention with specific functions and behaviour change techniques is provided to demonstrate how this framework can be implemented and evaluated. It is hoped that this framework can be used to help reduce the disparity between male and female students seeking mental health support.</jats:p>

A Multi-Domain Group-Based Intervention to Promote Physical Activity, Healthy Nutrition, and Psychological Wellbeing in Older People with Losses in Intrinsic Capacity: AMICOPE Development Study

“…To date, the few examples found using the GUIDED checklist include two peer-reviewed articles reporting interventions aimed at improving mental health help-seeking behaviors for male students [ 73 ] and anxiety and depression management in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) [ 74 ], two pre-prints reporting interventions aimed to improve early diagnosis of cancer in primary care [ 75 ] and targeting antipsychotic prescription to nursing home residents with dementia [ 76 ], and one doctoral thesis reporting an arts-based intervention for patients with kidney disease [ 77 ]. However, some researchers have used the Consensus on Exercise Reporting Template (CERT) [ 78 ] to characterize physical activity programs for older adults in Latin America [ 36 ] and assess the feasibility of an enhanced prescribed exercise program in older acute medical patients [ 79 ] and the effectiveness of falls prevention interventions on reducing falls in hospitalized adults [ 80 ].…”

A Multi-Domain Group-Based Intervention to Promote Physical Activity, Healthy Nutrition, and Psychological Wellbeing in Older People with Losses in Intrinsic Capacity: AMICOPE Development Study

“…To date, the few examples found using the GUIDED checklist includes two peer-reviewed articles reporting interventions aimed to improve mental health help-seeking behaviours for male students [73], and anxiety and depression management in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) [74]; two pre-prints reporting interventions aimed to improve early diagnosis of cancer in primary care [75] and targeting antipsychotic prescription to nursing home residents with dementia [76]; and one doctoral thesis reporting an arts-based intervention for patients with kidney disease [77]. However, some researchers have used the Consensus on Exercise Reporting Template (CERT) [78] to characterize physical activity programs for older adults in Latin America [36], and assess the feasibility of an enhanced prescribed exercise program in older acute medical patients [79] and the effectiveness of falls prevention interventions on reducing falls in hospitalized adults [80].…”

A Multi-Domain Group-Based Intervention to Promote Physical Activity, Healthy Nutrition, and Psychological Wellbeing in Frail Older People: AMICOPE Development Study

“…Scientific literature is scarce for published intervention development studies. To date, the few examples found using the GUIDED checklist includes two PubMed peer-reviewed articles reporting interventions aimed to improve mental health help-seeking behaviours for male students [57], and tamoxifen adherence in breast cancer [58]; two preprints reporting interventions aimed to improve early diagnosis of cancer in primary care [59] and targeting antipsychotic prescribing to nursing home residents with dementia [60]; and one doctoral thesis reporting an arts-based intervention for patients with kidney disease [61].…”