A systematic review of help-seeking interventions for depression, anxiety and general psychological distress

BMC Psychiatry

Research Article

Jacqueline L Brewer¹  Kathleen M Griffiths¹  Amelia Gulliver¹  Helen Christensen¹ 

[1] Centre for Mental Health Research, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia;

关键词: Mental Health Problem;    Cognitive Behavioural Therapy;    Mental Health Literacy;    Personalise Feedback;    General Psychological Distress;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-244X-12-81

 received in 2012-01-06, accepted in 2012-05-01,  发布年份 2012

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundDepression and anxiety are treatable disorders, yet many people do not seek professional help. Interventions designed to improve help-seeking attitudes and increase help-seeking intentions and behaviour have been evaluated in recent times. However, there have been no systematic reviews of the efficacy or effectiveness of these interventions in promoting help-seeking. Therefore, this paper reports a systematic review of published randomised controlled trials targeting help-seeking attitudes, intentions or behaviours for depression, anxiety, and general psychological distress.MethodsStudies were identified through searches of PubMed, PsycInfo, and the Cochrane database in November 2011. Studies were included if they included a randomised controlled trial of at least one intervention targeting help-seeking for depression or anxiety or general psychological distress, and contained extractable data on help-seeking attitudes or intentions or behaviour. Studies were excluded if they focused on problems or conditions other than the target (e.g., substance use, eating disorder).ResultsSix published studies of randomised controlled trials investigating eight different interventions for help-seeking were identified. The majority of trials targeted young adults. Mental health literacy content was effective (d = .12 to .53) in improving help-seeking attitudes in the majority of studies at post-intervention, but had no effect on help-seeking behaviour (d = −.01, .02). There was less evidence for other intervention types such as efforts to destigmatise or provide help-seeking source information.ConclusionsMental health literacy interventions are a promising method for promoting positive help-seeking attitudes, but there is no evidence that it leads to help-seeking behaviour. Further research investigating the effects of interventions on attitudes, intentions, and behaviour is required.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Gulliver et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2012