A Reasoned Action Approach to Depression Help-Seeking Messaging for College Students: Implications of Cognitive Biases in Depression

A Reasoned Action Approach to Social Connection and Mental Health: Racial Group Differences and Similarities in Attitudes, Norms, and Intentions

This study employed a Reasoned Action Approach to investigate two communication behaviors that were being built into a statewide behavioral health campaign: initiating a conversation about one's own mental health struggles, and starting a conversation to discuss someone else's mental health difficulties. We examined whether the extent of attitudes, perceived norms, and perceived behavioral control regarding intent to perform these behaviors varied by racial identity. Using original survey data from Texans (N = 2,033), we conducted regression analyses for the two communication behaviors and found that intention to seek help was primarily explained by instrumental attitude, injunctive norm, descriptive norm, and perceived capacity; and intention to start a conversation to help someone else was primarily explained by instrumental attitude, injunctive norm, and perceived capacity. Additionally, we identified important common and distinct determinants of the two behaviors across different racial groups. Implications for health communication campaign message development and audience segmentation are discussed.

Memorable Messages About Mental Health Among International Students in the United States: A Mixed-Method Study

This study investigated the memorable messages about mental health that international students (N = 199) received from various sources since arriving on campus in the U.S. Utilizing the memorable messages framework, we examined the types of messages (normalizing, strategizing, minimizing) they received and their association with message satisfaction, mental health stigma, and attitude toward help-seeking. The most frequently recalled messages were normalizing messages (49.2%), followed by strategizing messages (31.7%), and minimizing messages (9.5%). Participants who recalled normalizing and strategizing messages reported higher satisfaction and a more favorable attitude toward help-seeking compared to those who recalled minimizing messages. These findings offer theoretical implications for memorable messages and immigrant populations, as well as practical implications for campaign messaging and design. These results can guide university officials in tailoring their efforts to meet the mental health needs of this vulnerable population.

The paradox of the resident experiencing depression: Higher depression, less favorable help-seeking outcome expectations, and lower help-seeking intentions

BACKGROUND

Medical residents experiencing depression can cause life-threatening harm to themselves and their patients. Treatment is available, but many do not seek help.

METHODS

The current set of three studies investigated whether depressive symptomatology in and of itself served as a help-seeking barrier-and whether expectations of help-seeking benefits provided insight into why this occurred. Nine waves of cross-sectional data were collected from medical residents across several different hospitals in the United States.

RESULTS

There was a large negative association between levels of depressive symptomatology and help-seeking intentions (H1) in Studies 1 and 3. In Study 2, this association was significant for one of the two help-seeking measures. For all analyses, studies, and measures, there was a large negative association between residents' levels of depressive symptomatology and agreement that seeking help will lead to positive outcomes (H2). Likewise, there was a moderately large indirect effect for all analyses, studies, and measures such that the association between levels of depressive symptomatology and help-seeking intentions occurred through less favorable expectations of help-seeking benefits (H3). Lower agreement of the benefits associated with help-seeking explained between 43 and 65% of depressive symptomatology's negative association with help-seeking intentions across studies.

CONCLUSIONS

The current findings indicate that depressive symptomatology itself represents a help-seeking barrier and underscore the importance of help-seeking expectations in explaining why this occurs. If future studies reveal a causal relationship between the perceived benefits of help-seeking and help-seeking intentions, then increasing such expectations could offer a potential path for increasing resident help-seeking.