Predictors of attitudes towards seeking professional psychological help amongst UK-based first generation Greek adults

Abstract

This study employed quantitative methodology to examine the role of age, gender, years of living in the United Kingdom, past experiences of therapy, acculturation, public stigma and internalised shame in predicting Attitudes Towards Seeking Professional Psychological Help of first generation Greek immigrants (N=120). The results of the correlational analysis suggested significant correlations between attitudes towards seeking professional psychological help, gender, age, years in the United Kingdom, past experiences of therapy, social stigma and the embarrassment factor of internalised shame. In contrast to the hypothesis and previous studies, acculturation did not correlate significantly with attitudes towards seeking professional psychological help. Hierarchical regression analysis was further used to present a model of the link between the predictor variables and attitudes towards seeking professional psychological help. The results suggested that past experiences of therapy and social stigma were the main predictors of attitudes towards seeking professional psychological help, with higher levels of social stigma being the most significant predictor. Internalised shame, gender, age and years of living in the United Kingdom did not have a predictive effect in this model. Implications of the findings to the field of Counselling Psychology are considered. This study appears to be the first to examine the attitudes towards seeking professional psychological help amongst a population of first generation Greek immigrants living in the United Kingdom. The implications of the findings include questioning the utility of a “Western” model of counselling. Considering the possible link between one’s attitudes and their behaviours in relation to seeking help, these findings point out the need for interventions to reduce the social stigma of seeking help of Greek immigrants, which may in turn increase the willingness to seek help for emotional difficulties of this growing immigrant population.