Abstract
Young people’s mental health is a public health priority, particularly as mental health problems in this group seem to be increasing. Even in countries with supposedly good access to healthcare, few young people seek support for mental health problems. The aim of this study was twofold, firstly to map the published literature on young people’s experiences of seeking help for mental health problems and secondly to validate whether the Lost in Space model was adaptable as a theoretical model of the help-seeking process described in the included articles in this scoping review. A scoping review was conducted in which we searched for literature on mental health help-seeking with a user perspective published between 2010 and 2020 in different databases. From the 2905 studies identified, we selected 12 articles for inclusion. The review showed how young people experience unfamiliarity and insecurity with regard to issues related to mental health and help-seeking. A strong wish for self-reliance and to safe-guard one’s own health were consistent among young people. Support structures were often regarded as inaccessible and unresponsive. There was a high level of conformity between the model on help-seeking and the analysed articles, reinforcing that help-seeking is a dynamic and psychosocial process.
Highlights
Young people’s mental health is a major public health issue
The aim of this study was twofold, firstly to map the published literature on young people’s experiences of seeking help for mental health problems and secondly to validate whether the previously published Lost in Space model was adaptable as a theoretical model of the help-seeking process described in the included articles in this scoping review
After the first screening of title and abstract, 1207 articles were excluded on the basis of age, format type, content, focusing on specific populations or not being based on a user perspective
Summary
Young people’s mental health is a major public health issue. Mental health problems among young people contribute to impaired physical and mental health extending into adulthood [1,2,3]. Promoting young people’s mental health is an integral component in ensuring their development and improving health and social wellbeing across their lifespan [3]. In light of the high rate of mental health problems among this group, a corresponding high rate of help-seeking and use of support resources might be assumed; few young people seek and eventually access professional help. The process of searching for support involves barriers that relate to both individual and social context factors [8,10]. This contributes to the complexity involved in offering interventions to support them and highlights the need to understand the help-seeking process, whether online or in person, for young people with mental health problems
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