Contextualizing Help-Seeking Attitudes and Help-Seeking Intention: The Role of Superwoman Schema among Black College Women

Black women are less likely to seek psychological help and underutilize mental health services. Although help-seeking attitudes and intentions are associated in the general population, less is known about this relationship among Black women in college. In this cross-sectional study, we investigated the relationship between help-seeking attitudes and intention among 167 self-identified Black women in college. We also investigated if dimensions of the Superwoman Schema (i.e., an obligation to display strength, resistance to being vulnerable, an obligation to suppress emotions, an intense motivation to succeed despite limited resources, and an obligation to help others) moderated this relationship. Findings indicated a significant positive relationship between help-seeking attitudes and help-seeking intention. Regarding moderation, an obligation to suppress emotions, resistance to vulnerability, and an obligation to help others interacted with help-seeking attitudes in predicting help-seeking intention. Notably, low adherence to an obligation to suppress emotions, resistance to vulnerability, and an obligation to help others were associated with high levels of help-seeking intention. However, more favorable help-seeking attitudes improved help-seeking intention for participants high in adherence to these dimensions. Our findings suggest that understanding the relevance of the Superwoman Schema among Black women is critical for increasing help-seeking behavior.

Characteristics of Individuals Seen as Sources of Social Support in Populations at Increased Risk for HIV

Access to social support from one's social network can serve as a protective factor against HIV infection; however, research exploring the availability of support in diverse populations that include high proportions of people at increased risk for HIV and the characteristics of network members associated with access to such support is limited. Multi-level dyadic analyses of social network data collected from women at risk for HIV and their network members reveal which individual and relationship characteristics of network members are associated with providing emotional, material, and/or health informational support. Results indicate that access to all three types of support was associated with a network member being a friend, a member of a participant's 'core' group, someone whose opinion matters to the respondent, and the respondent trusting them. These findings have implications for interventions designed to increase access to support among individuals at risk for HIV.

Use, characteristics and influence of lay consultation networks on treatment-seeking decisions in slums of Nigeria: a cross-sectional survey

OBJECTIVES

To describe the use, characteristics and influence of lay consultants on treatment-seeking decisions of adults in slums of Nigeria.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional survey using a pre-piloted questionnaire.

SETTINGS

Two slum communities in Ibadan city, Nigeria.

PARTICIPANTS

480 adults within the working age group (18-64).

RESULTS

Most respondents (400/480, 83.7%) spoke to at least one lay consultant during their last illness/health concern. In total, 683 lay consultants were contacted; all from personal networks such as family and friends. No respondent listed online network members or platforms. About nine in 10 persons spoke to a lay consultant about an illness/health concern without intending to seek any particular support. However, almost all (680/683, 97%) lay consultants who were contacted provided some form of support. Marital status (OR=1.92, 95% CI: 1.10 to 3.33) and perceiving that an illness or health concern had some effects on their daily activities (OR=3.25, 95% CI: 1.94 to 5.46) had a significant independent association with speaking to at least one lay consultant. Age had a significant independent association with having lay consultation networks comprising non-family members only (OR=0.95, 95% CI: 0.92 to 0.99) or mixed networks (family and non-family members) (OR=0.97, 95% CI: 0.95 to 0.99), rather than family-only networks. Network characteristics influenced individual treatment decisions as participants who contacted networks comprising non-family members only (OR=0.23, 95% CI: 0.08 to 0.67) and dispersed networks (combination of household, neighbourhood and distant network members) (OR=2.04, 95% CI: 1.02 to 4.09) were significantly more likely to use informal than formal healthcare, while controlling for individual characteristics.

CONCLUSIONS

Health programmes in urban slums should consider engaging community members so, when consulted within their networks, they are able to deliver reliable information about health and treatment-seeking.

Suicide risk profile and the social convoy: Population-level patterns of the young generation's help-seeking behavior and implications for suicide prevention

BACKGROUND

Social support network offers a large potential in augmenting suicide prevention efforts tailored for the young generation (YG), but has so far been largely overlooked in population health studies. Key issues that remain scarcely understood include the composition of the YG's activated support network when they faced psychological distress, along with the prevalence and suicide risk profile associated with these patterns.

METHODS

Using data from three consecutive population-representative surveys (2018-2020) on help-seeking behaviors of the YG living in Hong Kong, we first conducted latent class analysis to derive the YG's help-seeking patterns. Next, we conducted multinomial logistic regression to identify unique factors associated with each pattern and multiple logistic regressions for suicide risk indicators to examine risk levels associated with each pattern.

RESULTS

Analyses revealed 4 underlying patterns of help-seeking behaviors among the study population. Each pattern was consistently associated with a distinct suicide risk profile based on constituents' level of distress and history of suicide risk behaviors. Severity of suicide risk increased as individuals increased the activation radius of their social convoy, and this increase was more pronounced when individuals extended the radius beyond their inner circle. Individuals whose activated inner circle consisted of family members in addition to just friends & partner had lower suicide risks.

CONCLUSIONS

Social support networks hold much potential in augmenting suicide prevention efforts tailored for the general young population. Such efforts may be directed at empowering the inner circle of their convoy, given its predominance for the YG to seek help from.

The role and attributes of social networks in the provision of support to women after stillbirth: experiences from Uganda

INTRODUCTION

Communities exert stigma on mothers after stillbirth despite their potential to offer social support to the grieving family. Maternal healthcare-seeking behaviors are socially reinforced rendering a social network approach vital in understanding support dynamics which when utilized can improve community response to mothers experiencing stillbirth. However, the form and direction of social support for women when in need is not clear. The study explored the role and attributes of women's social networks in the provision of support to mothers who have experienced a stillbirth in Uganda.

METHODS

An exploratory cross-sectional study design adopting a social network approach was conducted. Data collection following established procedures was conducted on a convenient sample of 17 mothers who had experienced a stillbirth six months before the study. Frequencies and bivariate analysis were conducted to determine the factors influencing the provision of social support from 293 network members elicited during the alter generation. We then performed a Poisson regression on each of the social support forms and the explanatory variables. Network structure variables were calculated using UCINET version 6 while Netdraw facilitated the visualization of networks.

RESULTS

Overall, social support was available from all network relations mentioned by the respondents. No major variations were observed between the two time periods during pregnancy and following a stillbirth. The most common support received was in form of intangible support such as emotional and information support, mainly from females who were married and from the naturally occurring networks such as family and friends. We also observed that social support followed patterns of network relational characteristics including trust, frequency of contact and alters counted on for support more likely to provide the same.

CONCLUSIONS

A great potential for social support exists within women's social networks to help address stillbirth risk factors during pregnancy and cope after experiencing the same. Alter characteristics like being female, married, and from naturally occurring networks together with relational characteristics such as trust, frequency of contact, and count on alter for support were predictors of eventual social support. Interventions aiming at addressing stillbirth risks at the community level ought to harness these network characteristics for benefits to the mothers.

Examining Help-Seeking Intentions of African American College Students Diagnosed with Depression

A depressed African American emerging adult's intention to seek help can be affected by the severity of their mental health or perception of self-flourishing, or positive mental health. Using the Healthy Minds Study, a nationally representative dataset, utilization of mental health services among African American emerging adult students who have been diagnosed with depression by a health professional (n = 201), and the mediating effect of positive mental health on help-seeking intentions were examined. The findings revealed that 89.45% of students reported help-seeking intentions, and they may have one or more than one way of seeking help from a professional clinician, roommate or friend, or significant. The findings show that there are specific groups of people that African Americans prefer to engage with when addressing their mental health. It is critical that we consider these groups when developing interventions or programs for their service access on college campuses and beyond.

Perceived stress and mental health: The mediating roles of social support and resilience among black women exposed to sexual violence

BACKGROUND

Black women disproportionately suffer from violence and its subsequent mental health outcomes. Increasing levels of perceived stress are associated with greater symptoms of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Social support and resilience can potentially mediate the negative consequences of perceived stress on women's mental health. This study assesses the association between perceived stress and mental health outcomes among Black women. In addition, this study examines social support and resilience as mediators of association between perceived stress and mental health.

METHODS

Black women residing in Baltimore, MD (n = 310) were recruited from STD clinics into a retrospective cohort study (2013-2018) on sexual assault and HIV risk. Social support and resilience served as coping variables and were assessed as mediators in the associations between perceived stress and mental health. Analyses were stratified by exposure to sexual violence in adulthood.

RESULTS

Almost half of our sample (46%) experienced severe depression and about one-third (27%) experienced severe PTSD. Resilience partially mediated the association between perceived stress and severe depressive symptoms among exposed women. Social support partially mediated the association between perceived stress and severe PTSD symptoms among exposed women.

LIMITATIONS

Since this is a cross-sectional analysis, we are unable to determine the temporal relationship between outcome and exposure variables. The CES-D-10 and NSESSS are scales that measure the severity of depressive and PTSD symptoms, respectively, and are not clinical diagnoses.

CONCLUSION

There is a critical need to develop interventions focused on reducing the burden of stress on mental health.