Abstract
Men are less likely to seek help for mental health difficulties and this process is often used to help explain the disproportionally higher suicide rates compared to women. Furthermore, university students are often regarded as a vulnerable population group with a lower propensity to seek help. Thus, male students are a very high-risk group that is even more reluctant to seek help for mental health difficulties, placing them at high risk of suicide. Often, student mental health problems are highlighted in the media, but very few evidence-based solutions specifically designed for male students exist. The current paper seeks to provide a comprehensive framework about how to better design mental health interventions that seek to improve male students’ willingness to access psychological support. The Medical Research Council’s (MRC’s) framework for developing a complex intervention was used to develop an intervention relevant to male students. In this paper, previous help-seeking interventions and their evaluation methods are first described, secondly, a theoretical framework outlining the important factors male students face when accessing support, and thirdly, how these factors can be mapped onto a model of behaviour change to inform the development of an evidence-based intervention are discussed. Finally, an example intervention with specific functions and behaviour change techniques is provided to demonstrate how this framework can be implemented and evaluated. It is hoped that this framework can be used to help reduce the disparity between male and female students seeking mental health support.
Highlights
In 2018, 33% of 18-year-olds enrolled into university education in the United Kingdom (UK) [1].This period coincides with the peak onset age for various mental health conditions, such as schizophrenia, anxiety and depression [2,3]
This review identified interventions targeting mental health health help-seeking in men ofsystematic different age groups, two of nine which were delivered to male students help-seeking in men of different age groups, two of which were delivered to male students
The current paper addresses mental health help-seeking for male-students some of the rationale underpinning key features are drawn from the adult male literature to provide a more comprehensive synthesis
Summary
In 2018, 33% of 18-year-olds enrolled into university education in the United Kingdom (UK) [1]. Sagar-Ouriaghli et al [22] identified 18 BCTs (e.g., credible source, feedback on behaviour and problem solving), which were synthesised into seven broader, more clinically relevant, psychological processes that are likely to contribute to changes in help-seeking for men of different age groups (Appendix B) These seven key processes include: the use of role models (e.g., celebrities and other men) to convey information, psycho-educational materials to improve mental health knowledge, assisting men to recognise and manage their symptoms, adopting active problem solving and/or solution focused tasks, motivating behaviour change, sign-posting mental health services, and including content to build on positive masculine traits (e.g., responsibility and strength). Future mental health help-seeking interventions for male students should seek to measure changes to help-seeking attitudes (ATSPPH-SF) and help-seeking behaviours (AHSQ)
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