TY - JOUR
T1 - Facilitating factors and barriers in help-seeking behaviour in adolescents and young adults with depressive symptoms: A qualitative study
T2 - A qualitative study
AU - Eigenhuis, Eline
AU - Waumans, Ruth C.
AU - Muntingh, Anna D. T.
AU - Westerman, Marjan J.
AU - van Meijel, Marlinde
AU - Batelaan, Neeltje M.
AU - van Balkom, Anton J. L. M.
N1 - Funding Information: ADT Muntingh received funding from the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonMw, www.zonmw.nl) (projectnr. 430000003). The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 Eigenhuis et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/3/1
Y1 - 2021/3/1
N2 - Objective Despite the availability of mental health care, only a minority of depressed adolescents and young adults receive treatment. This study aimed to investigate facilitating factors and barriers in help-seeking behaviour of adolescents and young adults with depressive symptoms, using qualitative research methods. Methods In-depth, semi-structured interviews with 32 participants with current or previous depressive symptoms aged 16 to 24 years using thematic content analysis. Findings Our sample consisted mainly of adolescents who eventually found their way to professional help. Five main themes in help-seeking by adolescents and young adults were identified: (I) Individual functioning and well-being, (II) Health literacy, (III) Attitudinal aspects, (IV) Surroundings, and (V) Accessibility. Prompts to seek treatment were disease burden and poor academic performance. Health illiteracy negatively influenced treatment-seeking behaviour. Attitudinal aspects either hampered (shame, wanting to handle the problem oneself, negative attitudes towards treatment) or facilitated (positive attitudes towards treatment) help-seeking. Furthermore, adolescents’ surroundings (school, family, and peers) appeared to play a critical role in the recognition of depressive symptoms and encouragement to seek help. Barriers regarding accessibility of mental health care were found, whereas direct and easy access to treatment greatly improved mental health care use. Conclusion Facilitating factors can play a critical role in the help-seeking process of depressed adolescents and young adults, and may guide efforts to increase access to mental health care of this vulnerable age group. In particular, recognition and encouragement from school personnel and peers and easy access to care providers positively influenced help-seeking in our sample. Health illiteracy and attitudinal aspects appeared to be important barriers to seeking treatment and public/school campaigns aimed at reducing health illiteracy and stigma might be necessary to improve treatment-seeking and health care utilization in this age group.
AB - Objective Despite the availability of mental health care, only a minority of depressed adolescents and young adults receive treatment. This study aimed to investigate facilitating factors and barriers in help-seeking behaviour of adolescents and young adults with depressive symptoms, using qualitative research methods. Methods In-depth, semi-structured interviews with 32 participants with current or previous depressive symptoms aged 16 to 24 years using thematic content analysis. Findings Our sample consisted mainly of adolescents who eventually found their way to professional help. Five main themes in help-seeking by adolescents and young adults were identified: (I) Individual functioning and well-being, (II) Health literacy, (III) Attitudinal aspects, (IV) Surroundings, and (V) Accessibility. Prompts to seek treatment were disease burden and poor academic performance. Health illiteracy negatively influenced treatment-seeking behaviour. Attitudinal aspects either hampered (shame, wanting to handle the problem oneself, negative attitudes towards treatment) or facilitated (positive attitudes towards treatment) help-seeking. Furthermore, adolescents’ surroundings (school, family, and peers) appeared to play a critical role in the recognition of depressive symptoms and encouragement to seek help. Barriers regarding accessibility of mental health care were found, whereas direct and easy access to treatment greatly improved mental health care use. Conclusion Facilitating factors can play a critical role in the help-seeking process of depressed adolescents and young adults, and may guide efforts to increase access to mental health care of this vulnerable age group. In particular, recognition and encouragement from school personnel and peers and easy access to care providers positively influenced help-seeking in our sample. Health illiteracy and attitudinal aspects appeared to be important barriers to seeking treatment and public/school campaigns aimed at reducing health illiteracy and stigma might be necessary to improve treatment-seeking and health care utilization in this age group.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85102715336&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0247516
DO - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0247516
M3 - Article
C2 - 33684154
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 16
JO - PLOS ONE
JF - PLOS ONE
IS - 3 March 2021
M1 - e0247516
ER -
