The Relationships Between Stigma Toward Psychological Help Seeking, Self-Efficacy, Family Sense of Coherence and Social Support
Abstract
Purpose: The main purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships university students' stigma levels toward psychological help seeking with self-efficacy, family sense of coherence, and social support.
Design/Methodology/Approach: This study was carried out with 520 students in 2016-2017 academic year. The data used in this study was adopted from Demographic Information Form, Self-Stigma of Seeking Help Scale, Stigma Scale for Receiving Psychological Help, General Self-Efficacy Scale, Short Form of the Family Sense of Coherence Scale and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support.
Findings: Predictive power of self-efficacy, family sense of coherence, and perceived social support on self-stigma and public stigma were analyzed by hierarchical regression analysis. As a result of hierarchical regression analysis where the self-stigma and public stigma toward psychological help seeking was taken as predicted variable, it was found that self-efficacy and family sense of coherence were the significant predictors of self-stigma and public stigma toward psychological help seeking. On the other hand, it was found that sub-dimensions of social support were no significant predictors of self-stigma and public stigma toward psychological help seeking.
Highlights: When students have high self-efficacy, they may experience less self-stigma and public stigma. Support and psycho- educational groups can be arranged for students with low self-efficacy. Besides, family sense of coherence predicted university students' self-stigma and public stigma toward psychological help seeking levels. For individuals with a low family sense of coherence, psychological counselors can provide individual or group counseling.
Keywords
psychological help seeking, self-stigma, public stigma, self-efficacy, family sense of coherence, social support
References
- Acun-Kapıkıran, N., & Kapıkıran, Ş. (2013). Psikolojik yardım aramada kendini damgalama ölçeği: Geçerlik ve güvenirlik. Türk Psikolojik Danışma ve Rehberlik Dergisi, 5(40), 131-141.
- Antonovsky, A., & Sourani, T. (1988). Family sense of coherence and family adaptation. Journal of Marriage and Family, 50(1), 79-92.
- Atik, G., & Yalçın, İ. (2011). Help-seeking attitudes of university students: The role of personality traits and demographic factors. South African Journal of Psychology, 41(3), 328-338. doi.org/10.1177/008124631104100307
- Arora, P. G., Metz, K., & Carlson C. I. (2016). Attitudes toward professional psychological help seeking in South Asian students: Role of stigma and gender. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 44, 263-284. doi.org/10.1002/jmcd.12053
- Bandura, A. (1977). Self efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84(2), 191-215.
- Bandura, A. (1989). Human agency in social cognitive theory. The American Psychologist, 44(9), 1175-1184.
- Bandura, A. (1994). Self-efficacy. V. S. Ramachaudran içinde, Encyclopedia of human behavior (s. 71-81). New York: Academic Press.
- Bandura, A. (1995). Self-efficacy in changing societies. UK: Cambridge University Press.
- Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy the exercise of control. New York: W.H. Freeman and Company.
- Baumann, A. E., & Gaebel, W. (2008). Fighting stigma and discrimination because of schizophrenia-open the doors’: A collaborative review of the experience from the german project centres. J. A. Florez & N. Sartorius içinde, Understanding stigma of mental illness (s. 49-67). England: John Wiley and Sons Ltd.