Ready, Willing and Able? An Investigation of the Theory of Planned Behaviour in Help-Seeking for a Community Sample with Current Untreated Depressive Symptoms

Applying health behaviour change models, such as the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), to help-seeking for mental health problems can address the deficit in health care utilisation. However, previous studies largely focused on help-seeking intentions and not behaviour, which might be problematic du...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Prevention science 2020-08, Vol.21 (6), p.749-760
Main Authors: Tomczyk, S., Schomerus, G., Stolzenburg, S., Muehlan, H., Schmidt, S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Adults
Aged
Attitudes
Behavior
Behavior change
Behavior Control
Child and School Psychology
Depression
Female
Germany
Health behavior
Health problems
Health Psychology
Health services utilization
Help seeking behavior
Humans
Male
Medical personnel
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Mental depression
Mental disorders
Mental health
Mental health professionals
Middle Aged
Patient Acceptance of Health Care
Perceived control
Prevention
Prevention programs
Psychological Theory
Public Health
Self-efficacy
Social support
Surveys and Questionnaires
Symptoms
Telephone surveys
Theory of planned behavior
Willingness
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Summary:Applying health behaviour change models, such as the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), to help-seeking for mental health problems can address the deficit in health care utilisation. However, previous studies largely focused on help-seeking intentions and not behaviour, which might be problematic due to the intention-behaviour gap. Hence, TPB and help-seeking were examined in a German community sample with current untreated depressive symptoms: 188 adults ( M age  = 50.34; SD = 16.19; 70.7% female) participated in a baseline interview and survey measuring components of the TPB (attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control) and help-seeking intentions. They reported actual help-seeking from mental health professionals via telephone surveys 3 and 6 months later. To better understand the potential gap between help-seeking intentions and behaviour and to investigate the contributions of readiness, willingness and ability to seek help, two path models were constructed in accordance with the TPB controlling for covariates. Attitudes ( β  = .24), subjective norms ( β  = .25) and self-efficacy ( β  = .15) were significantly associated with intentions ( R 2  = 26%), which predicted help-seeking (Cox and Snell’s pseudo- R 2  = 23%); controllability did not predict help-seeking. In sum, the TPB provides a reliable framework to explore help-seeking behaviour for mental health problems. Based on these findings, prevention efforts should focus on readiness and willingness to seek help (e.g. foster positive attitudes and social support of treatment). However, the role of ability, operationalised as perceived behavioural control and (perceived) barriers to help-seeking, warrants further research, as self-efficacy but not controllability was associated with help-seeking.
ISSN:1389-4986
1573-6695
DOI:10.1007/s11121-020-01099-2