The Impact of Mental Health Literacy on Help-Seeking Intentions: Results of a Pilot Study with First Year Psychology Students

Abstract

Although mental health literacy has been proposed as a factor that may facilitate help-seeking, few studies have examined this relation. This pilot study was designed to investigate the relation between mental health literacy and help-seeking intentions, and to explore which components of mental health literacy might be best able to predict help-seeking intentions. An online questionnaire was completed by a convenience sample of 150 university students enrolled in a psychology unit, aged between 17 and 26 years. A simultaneous multiple regression indicated that higher levels of mental health literacy could predict greater intentions to seek help from professional sources. A number of mental health literacy components made a unique and significant contribution to the prediction of help-seeking intentions. The findings of this pilot study indicate that the role of mental health literacy in facilitating help-seeking is a promising area of research.