PubMed Health⌕ Search

SEARCH · PubMed Health

Results for “Help-Seeking Behavior”

Explore indexed PubMed citations for clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health research. Read source abstracts and follow each citation to its original PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 145 records · Page 8Linked to original sources
PubMed1992

Ethical issues in interviewing.

A study of the help-seeking behaviours of alcohol dependent and problem drinking women raised a number of ethical issues. It had been anticipated that the design of the study and the construction and approval of appropriate consent forms would eliminate the majority of problems. While this was true, a number of unforeseen points emerged during the course of the study related to interviewing women, discussing emotive issues and the responsibilities of the researcher vis-à-vis their samples. This paper discusses the issues raised using specific examples drawn from the research study.

Alcoholism↗
PubMed1989

Psychosocial responses to oral and maxillofacial surgery for head and neck cancer.

This study involved extensive interviews with 28 patients who had disfiguring oral and maxillofacial surgery for head and neck cancer. The patients, ages 42 to 76 years, had all been informed of their diagnosis and were in 2- to 5-year postoperative follow-up. Findings pertain to how patients deal with the interpersonal and social ramifications of diagnosis and surgical treatment. Fatalism, delays in help-seeking, responses to diagnosis, postsurgical anxiety, and adjustment were reported. Reassurance prior to surgery was sometimes found to limit understanding of postoperative impairment. Oral and maxillofacial surgeons were seen in heroic or imposing roles that impacted on their capacity to be supportive to patients coping with life change and "handicap." The patient treatment decisions were found to be determined by attitudes about death, which motivated patients and surgeons to make difficult or extreme choices. Suffering, social changes, and postoperative uncertainty were patient concerns. Patient strategies for adjusting to disfiguration are examined, and specific recommendations for the oral and maxillofacial surgeon are made.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Help-seeking behaviours among child psychiatric clinic attenders in Hong Kong.

This study employed semi-structured interviews and questionnaires to describe the help-seeking processes and examine the determinants of help-seeking behaviours in 100 consecutive referrals to a child psychiatric clinic in Hong Kong. The help-seeking processes were characterized by (1) a sequential pattern of lay consultations starting from the families, relatives, friends and, rarely, neighbours; (2) detour via multiple professionals; (3) delay in reaching specialist services. A total of seven psychosocial variables were used to predict the help-seeking behaviours. The younger the child was, the more likely members outside the families were sought for advice. A large number of professional consultations was predicted by a high symptom score and relative old age in the referred child, less social disadvantages in the family and parental beliefs that family influences were not the cause of the child's problems. A long delay in reaching specialist services was predicted by a high symptom score in the child. Parental beliefs of outside influences being the cause of the child's problems predicted a short delay in reaching the clinic. Low awareness of services was the predominant difficulty parents encountered when they sought psychiatric care for their children. Public health education to demystify the cause of mental disturbances, close networking with teachers and general practitioners, and establishment of community child mental health clinics for easy access are recommended.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

The DSM-IV panic disorder field trial: panic attack frequency and functional disability.

The goal of the DSM-IV panic disorder field trial was to provide an empirical basis for choosing between alternate proposals (DSM-III-R and proposed DSM-IV) for the diagnostic threshold for panic disorder, in particular the number and frequency of panic attacks required for diagnosis. The two criteria sets were compared with respect to their ability to identify individuals whose panic attacks were associated with distress, impairment, or help-seeking. Subjects were a convenience sample screened in three geographically diverse primary care clinics for presence (past 6 months) or absence (lifetime) of panic attacks. Each underwent a clinician-administered semistructured interview which included assessment of panic frequency, panic-related impairment, psychiatric diagnosis, health services utilization, and medical illness. Self-perceived health-related quality of life was assessed using the Medical Outcome Study SF-36 Health Survey Questionnaire. Although both proposals diagnosed the same proportion of panic-impaired individuals, they were not completely overlapping. Twenty percent of subjects diagnosed by each criteria set were excluded by the other. Subjects who had been excluded by the DSM-III-R but included by the DSM-IV proposal were those with fewer than 4 attacks in 4 weeks who also denied worry about the "next" attack. Broadening the worry criterion to include concerns about the health implications of attacks enabled diagnosis of this group. Subjects who met DSM-III-R, but not the proposed DSM-IV criteria, had 4 attacks in 4 weeks but denied any panic related worry. Modification of the DSM-IV proposal to include a month of worry or "a significant change in behavior related to the attacks" allowed inclusion of this group in the diagnostic category. These data suggest that the finalized DSM-IV panic disorder criteria will diagnose a greater proportion of individuals whose panic attacks are associated with impairment without inflating the diagnostic category or significantly reducing specificity.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

The treatment-seeking woman at menopause.

Recent studies suggest that health care utilisation by women during menopause transition in general is highly idiosyncratic, despite the widespread advocation of prophylactic hormone therapy and increased health vigilance. The Melbourne Women's Midlife Health Study, a community-based cross-sectional study of 2001 urban Australian-born women aged 45-55 years, evaluated women's physical and emotional experiences, past and present health status, attitudes and beliefs about menopause, health behaviours and current menopausal status in a 30-min telephone interview. This paper reports on those factors related to help-seeking and health care utilisation. Findings show that treatment utilisers, in contrast to non-utilisers, reported a wider range of general symptoms, but reports on vasomotor symptoms did not contribute to the regression analysis. Treatment utilisers were further identified as problem-related or prevention-related utilisers. In three-way analyses, the past and present social and physical health of the problem-related treatment user was reportedly worse than either the prevention-related utiliser or non-utiliser. These findings suggest that medical and societal views about the health of middle-aged women during menopausal transition are likely to be based on the experiences of a particular segment of the population only. It is proposed that biased views of menopause as a time of considerable distress and ill-health are being perpetuated and over-generalised. This perspective appears to have little relevance for the majority of middle-aged women.

Australia↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The Safe Dates Project: theoretical basis, evaluation design, and selected baseline findings.

Approximately 20% of adolescents have experienced violence from a dating partner. The Safe Dates Project tests the effects of a program on the primary and secondary prevention of dating violence among adolescents living in a rural North Carolina county. The program being evaluated aims to prevent dating violence by changing dating violence norms, gender stereotyping, conflict-management skills, help-seeking, and cognitive factors associated with help-seeking. School activities include a theater production, a 10-session curriculum, and a poster contest. Community activities include special services for adolescents in violent relationships and community service provider training. A pretest-posttest experimental design with random allocation of 14 schools to treatment condition was used to test study hypotheses. Data were collected in schools using self-administered questionnaires. Eighty-one percent (n = 1,967) of the eighth- and ninth-graders in the county completed baseline questionnaires, and 91% of those adolescents completed follow-up questionnaires. The sample is 75.9% Caucasian and 50.4% female. Baseline data indicate that 25.4% and 8.0% of this sample have been victims of nonsexual and sexual dating violence, respectively, and 14.0% and 2.0% have been perpetrators of nonsexual and sexual dating violence, respectively. Consistent with other adolescent dating violence studies, both boys and girls report being victims and perpetrators of dating violence. Control and treatment groups are similar at baseline on all demographic, mediating, and outcome variables. Findings suggest that dating violence is prevalent among adolescents and that prevention programs are warranted.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1978

Help-seeking mothers and their children.

Forty-three mothers sought help with management of childhood behaviors. Presenting complaints in half or more of the families included stubbornness, talking back to parents, disobedience and other traits indicative of parent-child interaction difficulties. Pretreatment behavioral observations revealed that mothers shared common characteristics of being low in positive warmth and high in negative and oppositional responses. The children were observed to share common traits of little independent play, frequent frustration, and either ignored their mothers or were verbally and physically oppositional. Behavioral counselling and monitored rehearsal served to reverse many of the behaviors. Almost all mothers reported reduction in problem behaviors. Mothers varied widely in attributing usefulness to different program components.

Attitude↗
PubMed1996

Interpersonal and self-reported hostility among combat veterans with and without posttraumatic stress disorder.

The present study investigated self-reported and interpersonal hostility in 70 Vietnam combat veterans with and without posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and 60 comparison community volunteer subjects. Veterans were 50 help-seeking, male Vietnam combat veterans with PTSD and 20 non-help-seeking male combat veterans without PTSD. Vietnam veterans with PTSD not only reported more hostility than non-PTSD veterans and healthy community volunteers, but also reacted behaviorally with more hostility during an interpersonal interaction. Compared to veterans without PTSD, veterans with PTSD reported significantly higher levels of hostility and demonstrated significantly greater non-verbal expressions of hostility during an interpersonal task. These results suggest that the level of hostility in PTSD combat veterans may be high as compared to comparison groups. The implications of these results and possible research directions are presented.

Case-Control Studies↗
PubMed1992

Parents of adolescents: help-seeking intentions as a function of help sources and parenting issues.

This study examined the declared intentions of parents of adolescents to seek help from potential sources for a variety of hypothetical problems related to parenting. The relationship between hypothetical help-seeking and certain characteristics of the help-seeker (sex, educational level, parenting, self-confidence, birth order, and sex of the adolescent), and the source of help (natural support system, professional support system, and media); and the problem type were investigated. The research population included 187 parents of adolescents. A questionnaire was formulated for the purpose of the study which examined help-seeking from nine sources of help on eight hypothetical parenting issues. Intention to seek help was found to be a function of both the particular problem type and the potential source of help. In general, parents declared their intention to seek help from and rely on a variety of sources. It was found that parents said that they were most likely to seek help from their spouses regardless of the issue, whereas professional sources were most likely to be consulted in their area of expertise.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

Social networks and patterns of help-seeking behaviour.

Previous research has suggested that patterns of help-seeking behaviour are influenced by who the sufferer consults when deciding whether to seek medical care or not. This research has been extended to include episodes of illness and injury where more formal contacts are brought into the consultation process. The results show that the perceived urgency with which medical care is required is influenced by who the person has contact with. Some groups such as the police, bystanders and neighbours and friends may be more likely to suggest that the sufferer should seek medical attention than other consultants. This difference was explained in terms of the social, economic, moral and legal pressures associated with these people's positions.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Social support: diverse theoretical perspectives.

The useful predictions and interpretations about social support which can be derived from attribution, coping, equity, loneliness and social comparison theories have typically not been recognized. Attribution theory can enable explanation of motives of donors, the phenomena of help-seeking and helping, and negative effects of support efforts. Coping theory demonstrates how social support and coping interface in the stress process; adds a cognitive dimension to support; and considers costs of support. Equity theory explains reactions to support from donor and recipient viewpoints and the reciprocal nature of social support. Loneliness theory attests to the significance of social relationships and emphasizes the affective dimension of support. Social comparison theory is helpful in interpreting positive and debilitating effects of support when the donor is a peer. Further, these five theories enhance theoretical interpretation of social support through their distinctive explanations of the concepts of 'appraisal' and 'helping'. Relevance to health professional assessment and practice can be delineated.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1994

Self-control skillfulness and caregiver burden among help-seeking elders.

Self-control skills are coping responses that help to organize one's own behavior and to manage cognitive and emotional responses that disrupt ongoing, adaptive behavior. The concept of self-control is applied to the chronically stressful caregiving experience. The present study examined the relationship between caregivers' role-specific burden and their self-control skillfulness. Forty-four caregivers of cognitively impaired spouses were assessed. Demographic characteristics, psychiatric symptomatology, role-specific burden, functional impairment of their spouse, and dispositional self-control skillfulness were measured. Highly skillful caregivers reported lower burden, fewer memory and behavior problems for their care recipient, and fewer psychiatric symptoms than less skilled caregivers. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that self-control skillfulness was associated with caregiver burden net the effects of covariates including age, education, memory and behavior problems of the care recipient, and caregivers' psychological distress. Results suggest that self-control skills may play an important role in caregiving and may help to explain why some caregivers adapt better than others to their role.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1990

Coping and help-seeking in the UK adult population.

A large national sample of the UK adult population was surveyed to find out how respondents would cope and whom they would turn to for help if they experienced psychological problems. Overall, the most frequently endorsed coping methods were cognitive or behavioural rather than avoidance- or substance-based. Respondents tended to endorse informal rather than formal helpers, especially partners and close relatives, although the family doctor was given greater endorsement than in corresponding US studies. Individual differences in coping and help seeking were examined with respect to demographic variables and level of reported psychological symptoms. Respondents who reported higher levels of symptoms tended to endorse more coping methods, especially avoidance methods, and to show greater readiness to seek help. The implications of the findings for traditional clinical work and for mental health education and promotion are discussed.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1992

The role of significant life events in discriminating help-seeking among illicit drug users.

This paper examines the role of significant life events in distinguishing two samples of illicit drug users: 120 help-seekers (the "agency group") and 120 not seeking help (the "non-agency group"). We examined 10 life areas clustered around the general categories of "substance use," "social functioning," and "emotional and interpersonal functioning." A range of objective and self-reported information was collected regarding each life area covering the 12 months prior to interview. Analysis revealed that the agency group experienced a greater number of negatively perceived drug-related life events than the non-agency group. These life events were also more likely to have occurred in recent months, prompting reported "concern" and "need for help" among the agency group. Additionally, length of use of current primary drug was seen to be a contributory variable in distinguishing between the groups.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Phenomenology and neurobiology of social phobia: comparison with panic disorder.

Like panic disorder, social phobia is a common, frequently severe, anxiety disorder that can cause significant work and social impairment. Unlike panic disorder, social phobia has only recently begun to undergo neurobiologic study and to receive pharmacotherapeutic attention. There is a high comorbidity between social phobia and panic disorder; however, many differences exist--including age at onset, gender distribution, contextual framework of anxiety, help-seeking and help-avoidance behavior, quality of sleep and sleep patterns, caffeine and lactate sensitivity, and, most probably, pharmacologic responses. Social phobia can now be included among the growing number of anxiety disorders that respond to pharmacotherapy.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Children's reactions to the receipt of direct and indirect help.

First, third, and fifth graders' (N = 201) reactions to 2 types of aid (direct help [answers] and indirect help [hints]) commonly used by helpers to assist children were examined. The children were randomly assigned to receive either direct or indirect help on a task, and then were asked to try a similar task immediately and again a few days later. Direct help was expected to elicit dependency, whereas indirect help was expected to elicit independent reactions. Age and/or sociocognitive level were predicted to moderate the effects of help. Direct help resulted in feelings of threat, low perceived control, and high dependency help-seeking for girls, but not for boys. Boys who received indirect help and understood the notion of consistency of personality requested less dependent help than did boys with less of this sociocognitive skill. Moreover, children high in the understanding of consistency of personality were more autonomous (i.e., helped themselves more) in the indirect than in the direct help condition.

Child↗
PubMed1996

[Little recognition of mental problems in children by parents and family physicians].

OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of psychic problems in children in the Dutch GP-practice and to determine how often parents and general practitioners (GPs) recognize psychic problems in children. DESIGN: Descriptive. SETTING: World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre for Primary Health Care (NIVEL) and Academic Hospital, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Utrecht, the Netherlands. METHOD: In 810 children presence or absence of emotional and behavioural problems was studied by means of the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL) filled out by a parent at the moment of contact with a GP. The GPs findings in these were also recorded. RESULTS: 7.7% of all children obtained a total CBCL score indicating presence of emotional and behavioural problems (> P90). These children had problems at school, had repeated a school year, and followed special education more often. Nevertheless most of their parents (86%) did not experience problems with their children and 40% of the parents did not report any psychic problem in the preceding 2 weeks. Only 15% of these children were completely free of signs and symptoms, however, as against 40% of children with low scores. The percentages of children with high scores consulting a GP, social work or mental health care agency were somewhat higher than the percentages of children without these problems, but only the last-mentioned difference was significant. Children saw the GP rarely because of psychosocial problems (n = 7; less than 1%; 1 had a high CBCL score). Regardless of the presence of emotional and behavioural problems, as assessed by the CBCL, the GP seldom diagnosed psychological or social problems in children (n = 11; 1.4%; 2 had a high CBCL score) and rarely suspected the complaints had a psychosocial background. CONCLUSION: Children with a high CBCL score did not visit their GPs more often. The perception by the parent appears to be crucial in the help-seeking process. In many children in whom the screening instrument indicated the presence of emotional and behavioural problems, parents did not consider their children as problematic and did not seek the help of a GP.

Adolescent↗