Seek Support Research Articles

Combat Stress Management and Resilience: Adapting Department of Defense Combat Lessons Learned to Civilian Healthcare during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Combat Stress Management and Resilience: Adapting Department of Defense Combat Lessons Learned to Civilian Healthcare during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The Expectancies and Motivations for Heavy Episodic Drinking of Alcohol in Autistic Adults.

For autistic adults, the perceived benefits of drinking alcohol to facilitate social interaction may be particularly appealing. Alcohol may be considered "self-medication" for clinical features of autism or may be used to help cope with elevated levels of co-occurring anxiety. We developed an online survey and 507 autistic adults responded to questions concerning their expectancies and motivations for heavy episodic drinking. The survey also included questions about ways of seeking support, if needed, and barriers to seeking support. Over half of those who had drunk alcohol reported heavy episodic drinking in the past year (6 or more units of alcohol at one time). Heavy episodic drinkers endorsed traditional expectancies (e.g., "Alcohol generally has powerful positive effects on people") and autism-specific expectancies (e.g., "Alcohol makes verbal communication easier") to a greater degree than nonheavy episodic drinkers. Autism-specific expectancies, not traditional expectancies, related to frequency of drinking. The strongest motivations for heavy episodic drinking were for social reasons and to enhance positive feelings, rather than for conformity or coping. If support was required for problematic drinking, the internet was the most commonly chosen resource, although 45% of the participants indicated that they would not seek support. Perceived barriers to support included concern that it would take place in an unfamiliar chaotic environment and concern about being misunderstood and judged by a therapist. This study is the first to identify the expectancies and motivations for heavy episodic drinking in autistic adults as well as identifying barriers to seeking support. There may be some autism-specific expectancies related to the nature of autism that impact upon heavy episodic drinking, as well as impacting upon seeking support. The autistic and broader autism communities can benefit from an awareness of these findings, and service providers can adapt support appropriately. Why was this study done?: Little is known about how alcohol is used within the autistic community. One population-based study found that autistic adults were four times more likely to experience problematic drinking compared with nonautistic adults.What was the purpose of this study?: This study identified the expectations and motivations for heavy episodic-or "binge"-drinking alcohol among autistic adults. Binge drinking is a risk factor for problematic drinking. The study also identified how autistic adults accessed support should it be needed, and what the potential barriers were to accessing support.What did the researchers do?: We conducted an online survey with 507 autistic adults with formal or informal diagnoses of autism. The survey asked about the frequency of drinking alcohol and binge drinking. Participants then answered a questionnaire about why they drank alcohol. The questions asked about general reasons for drinking (such as: "Alcohol generally has powerful positive effects on people [e.g., makes you feel good or happy; future seems brighter]") as well as autism-related reasons (such as: "Alcohol makes verbal communication easier [e.g., starting conversations, responding to what other people say, or maintaining a normal back-and-forth conversation]"). Finally, participants answered questions about seeking help and potential barriers to help-seeking.What were the results of the study?: Binge drinkers reported a greater number of traditional and autism-relevant expectations for drinking alcohol than nonbinge drinkers. The strongest motivations for drinking alcohol were for social reasons and to enhance positive feelings, rather than coping or to conform. The internet was the most common source of support for problematic drinking (49% of participants); however, 45% of participants indicated that they would not seek any support. Perceived barriers to support were an unfamiliar chaotic environment and being misunderstood and judged by a therapist. Around one fifth of participants self-diagnosed themselves with autism, rather than having a formal diagnosis from a clinician. These two groups were very similar to each other.What do these findings add to what was already known?: This is the first study to identify the expectations and motivations for binge drinking alcohol in the autistic community.What are potential weaknesses in the study?: This was an online survey, and the diagnostic status of participants cannot be verified. Participants chose to take part in the study, and this may represent a bias as some people may not want to take part in online surveys or may not have access to the internet, or may not be part of networks that send out invitations to take part in research. In addition, the sample was largely female and well educated, which is not reflective of the autistic population as a whole.How will these findings help autistic adults now or in the future?: Better understanding the expectations and motivations for binge drinking alcohol can help inform support that is targeted at the autistic community. Alcohol support services can be better informed about how to adapt their provision for the autistic community specifically.

Mental Health and Social Care Professionals After a Patient Suicide: Interrelation Between Support Needed, Sought, and Received.

This article investigates the support needed, sought, and received by professionals following a patient suicide. A self-administered questionnaire about the consequences of patient suicide and support issues was completed by 704 professionals. Profiles of support were defined using a 3-dimensional, 8-fold typology based on need for, search for, and sufficiency of support. Stress reactions, professionals' characteristics, relationship with the patient, training, and providers of support were used to characterize the profiles. Most professionals acknowledged receiving sufficient support to manage the aftermath of patient suicide. Almost two thirds of the respondents who received sufficient support reported either not needing or seeking support or both needing and seeking support. Almost 1 in 10 respondents who reported needing and seeking support received insufficient support. Stress reactions were highest among professionals who needed but did not receive sufficient support. Professionals who did not need or seek support were less often in a relationship with the patient at the time of the suicide and less frequently felt close to or responsible for the patient than those who needed and sought support. Trained professionals were overrepresented among those who reported receiving sufficient support while they were less likely to report needing and seeking support or receiving insufficient support. Findings concerning support and its relationship to risk and protective factors suggest the need to adopt a multidimensional approach that distinguishes among support needed, sought, and received. Although an association may exist between perceived stress and need for support, involvement of professionals in the patient relationship may also be linked with the search for support, while training may be associated with receipt of sufficient support.

Indigenous Perspectives on Help-Seeking for Family Violence: Voices From an Australian Community.

Indigenous peoples experience high rates of family violence (FV) yet are said to access support at lower rates than their non-Indigenous counterparts. There is an absence of Indigenous voices regarding their help-seeking behaviors for FV, particularly concerning men's views. The aim of this research was to seek Indigenous perspectives on their help-seeking behaviors for FV. Individual, face-to-face semistructured interviews took place with 23 Indigenous Australians (14 women and 9 men) recruited from one large community in Victoria, Australia. Interviews were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim. Data were categorized and organized, and themes were identified using thematic analysis. Five main themes emerged from the data. "You're Aboriginal, so that's just how it is" describes the experiences with discrimination and judgment that create general barriers for Indigenous peoples to access services. The second theme "putting a big blanket over it" articulates the role that shame plays in deterring support-seeking for FV. "How do you trust somebody?" defines the fear in the hearts and minds of Indigenous participants who contemplate help-seeking. A further main theme of "someone that they could have a yarn with" explores what occurs when participants initially decide to seek support. Their thoughts on what participants want from interactions with formal services are explored in the final theme "a safe space." Significant barriers to seeking support for FV exist for Indigenous peoples, including discrimination, shame, and fear. Service providers need to work on addressing these barriers through an increased understanding of Indigenous experiences and beliefs in an effort to encourage help-seeking behaviors. Interventions to assist kin in dealing with FV and for service providers to create safe spaces are urgent. More research informed by Indigenous voices is needed.

A Seat at the Table: Strategic Engagement in Service Activities for Early-Career Faculty From Underrepresented Groups in the Academy.

Many academic institutions strive to promote more diverse and inclusive campuses for faculty, staff, and students. As part of this effort, these institutions seek to include individuals from historically underrepresented groups (URGs)-such as women, people from racial/ethnic minority populations, persons with disabilities-on committees and in other service activities. However, given the low number of faculty members from URGs at many institutions, these faculty members tend to receive more requests to provide service to the institution or department (e.g., serving on committees, mentoring) than their counterparts from majority groups. Faculty members from URGs, especially early-career faculty, thus risk becoming overburdened with providing service at the expense of working on other scholarly activities required for promotion and tenure (i.e., conducting research, publishing). Although many scholars and others have written about this "minority tax" and its implications for early-career faculty from underrepresented racial/ethnic minority groups, fewer have published about how this tax extends beyond racial/ethnic minorities to women and persons with disabilities. Further, the literature provides scant practical advice on how to avoid overburdening early-career faculty from URGs. Here, a group of multidisciplinary early- and mid-career faculty members from URGs seek to provide their peers from URGs with practical strategies for both evaluating the appropriateness of service requests and declining those that are not a good fit. The authors also provide institutional leaders with actionable recommendations to prevent early-career faculty from URGs from becoming overburdened with service.

An investigation of the effectiveness and determinants of seeking support among adolescent victims of cyberbullying

The purpose of this study is to investigate longitudinal associations between seeking social support and cyberbullying victimization and between seeking social support and internalizing problems. A two-wave panel study was conducted among 2,128 adolescents aged 10–17. A cross-lagged panel analysis among those adolescents who indicated being a victim at Time 1 (N=234) demonstrates that seeking support is associated with lower cyberbullying victimization six months later. However, this seems only true for seeking support from friends and not from parents or teachers. Furthermore, the model shows that adolescents who fear being negatively evaluated by peers are less inclined to seek support from friends, whereas adolescents with high self-esteem are less likely to seek support from parents and teachers. Implications and limitations are discussed.

Providing and Seeking Support Online : Chinese Women with Gynecological Diseases

This paper focused on the experiences of Chinese women with gynecological diseases. Drawing from the literature on supportive communication and supporting seeking strategies, this study investigated how Chinese women with gynecological diseases provide and seek support in a Chinese online social support group called Fight against Gynecological Diseases. From a qualitative content analysis, it was revealed that Chinese women used the online group to circumvent the social taboo surrounding gynecological diseases. The online discussion group was used by women primarily to seek support. In seeking support, Chinese women directly sought out support rather than indirectly soliciting support. Among various types of support, they mainly asked for advice and emotional support. These findings reaffirm the value of online discussion groups for patients and their caregivers, especially for those who experience difficulty in receiving or seeking support elsewhere. The results also call for better facilitation of supportive communication in online discussion groups.

The “Buzz” About Tinnitus: A Social Media Study

The “Buzz” About Tinnitus: A Social Media Study

Barriers to and Facilitators of Help-Seeking Behavior Among Men Who Experience Sexual Violence.

Research on sexual violence and related support services access has mainly focused on female victims; there is still a remarkable lack of research on men who experience sexual violence. Research demonstrates that people who both self-identify as men and are members of sexual-orientation minority populations are at higher risk of sexual violence. They are also less likely to either report or seek support services related to such experiences. The present study is an exploratory one aimed at filling the gap in the literature and better understanding how men, both straight and gay as well as cisgender and transgender, conceptualize, understand, and seek help related to sexual violence. A sample of 32 men was recruited on-line and participated in either a one-on-one in-depth interview (N = 19) or one of two focus group discussions (N = 13). All interviews and groups were audiotaped, professionally transcribed and coded using NVivo 9 qualitative software. The present analysis focused on barriers to and facilitators of support service access. Emergent and cross-cutting themes were identified and presented, with an emphasis on understanding what factors may prevent disclosure of a sexual violence experience and facilitate seeking support services and/or professional help. Through this analysis, the research team aims to add knowledge to inform the development of tools to increase service access and receipt, for use by both researchers and service professionals. Although this study contributes to the understanding of the issue of men’s experiences of sexual violence, more research with diverse populations is needed.

Social Support for Changing Multiple Behaviors: Factors Associated With Seeking Support and the Impact of Offered Support.

Social support is important for behavior change, and it may be particularly important for the complexities of changing multiple risk behaviors (MRB). Research is needed to determine if participants in an MRB intervention can be encouraged to activate their social network to aid their change efforts. Healthy Directions 2, a cluster-randomized controlled trial of an intervention conducted in two urban health centers, targeted five behaviors (physical activity, fruit and vegetable intake, red meat consumption, multivitamin use, and smoking). The self-guided intervention emphasized changing MRB simultaneously, focused on self-monitoring and action planning, and encouraged participants to seek support from social network members. An MRB score was calculated for each participant, with one point being assigned for each behavioral recommendation that was not met. Analyses were conducted to identify demographic and social contextual factors (e.g., interpersonal, neighborhood, and organizational resources) associated with seeking support and to determine if type and frequency of offered support were associated with changes in MRB score. Half (49.6%) of participants identified a support person. Interpersonal resources were the only contextual factor that predicted engagement of a support person. Compared to individuals who did not seek support, those who identified one support person had 61% greater reduction in MRB score, and participants identifying multiple support persons had 100% greater reduction. Engagement of one's social network leads to significantly greater change across multiple risk behaviors. Future research should explore strategies to address support need for individuals with limited interpersonal resources.

Parents with intellectual disabilities seeking professional parenting support: The role of working alliance, stress and informal support

Delaying or refraining from seeking advice and support in difficult parenting situations is identified as an important risk factor for child abuse and neglect. This study tested whether the extent of delays in support seeking is associated with working alliance for parents with mild intellectual disabilities (MID) and whether the importance of working alliance may depend on parenting stress and availability of informal support. Delays in support seeking were measured as parental latency (time waited) to approach the support worker. This latency was assessed in the intended response to hypothetical situations (vignettes) and in the reported behavioral response to real life difficult parenting situations from the preceding weeks. Multiple regression analyses were conducted for testing main and interaction effects of predictors on latency for support seeking. Better quality of the working alliance was associated with shorter intended latency to seek support for parents with MID, if parents had little access to informal support. Higher parenting stress predicted a shorter latency for intended support seeking. Parental support seeking intentions were positively associated with support seeking behavior. A good quality of the working alliance might be important to connect needs of parents with MID to resources that professional support can offer, in particular for the most vulnerable parents. Parental reluctance to seek professional support may be the result of a combination of risk and protective factors and is not always a sign of poor working alliance. Implications for risk assessment and support practice are discussed.

Psychological costs of support seeking and choice of communication channel

While seeking support brings benefits, it also entails some costs to the seeker. We propose that seeking support involves two types of psychological costs: intra- and inter-personal costs. Intra-personal cost is defined as the psychological threat arising from the perception that one fails to achieve one's own aspiration, while inter-personal cost is defined as the psychological threat arising from the perception that one fails to meet others' expectation. These costs result from individuals focusing on different aspects of the self and will deter individuals from seeking support. We conducted two studies. In the first study, we adapted, developed and validated scales to measure the two types of psychological costs. In the second study, we examined the impact of both types of psychological costs on individuals' choice of communication channel when seeking support. We found that only inter-personal cost was significantly related to seekers' choice of communication channel. Specifically, the higher the inter-personal cost perceived, the greater the likelihood that individuals would prefer email over face-to-face communication. We also found that women were more likely to seek support through email than face-to-face communication compared to men. Implications of the results for research and practice are discussed.

Mental Health, Stigmatising Beliefs, Barriers to Care and Help-Seeking in a Non-Deployed Sample of UK Army Personnel

Introduction: Stigmatising beliefs about seeking help for mental health problems and perceived barriers to care (stigma/BTC) are commonplace among military personnel; how they influence help-seeking is unclear. Aim: To explore the role of stigma/BTC in mental health help-seeking among British Army personnel. Method: Randomly selected non-deployed personnel were assessed by questionnaire for mental health and alcohol use status, stigma/BTC levels, help-seeking and mental health related perceptions. Results: The response rate was 81.5% (n=484). 35.0% screened positive for harmful alcohol use, 25.2% for common mental disorder symptoms, and 12.4% for probable PTSD. 40.0% of symptomatic personnel had not sought help. 70.3% of alcohol misusers had not sought any form of help; over 80% of probable mental health cases believed that seeking support was helpful or necessary and required courage or strength. Non-medical help sources were accessed more frequently than military medical services. Stigma/BTC significantly affected probable mental health cases but not alcohol misusers. Greater stigmatisation/BTC were associated with both interest in and receiving support. Friends or family were the commonest preferred and actual help source; unit commanders were among the least preferred but were the second most commonly accessed help source. Conclusion: A substantial number of symptomatic personnel had not sought help. The highest levels of stigma/ BTC were most strongly associated with interest in receiving help. Perceptions of potential negative occupational and social consequences of help-seeking and current mental health status may influence the decision to seek support. Military stigma reduction strategies may need to focus upon reassuring personnel and their families that adverse consequences are not inevitable and that help-seeking from any source may be a useful step in addressing mental health problems. Alcohol misusers may benefit from a strategy that helps them to view their alcohol use as potentially socially and occupationally problematic.

The context of perceived and desired social support among Korean older adults

Social support has multiple dimensions, the context of which can be explored by qualitative methods. In this study, face-to-face interviews were conducted with 21 local senior center members (9 men and 12 women aged 65 and older) in Seoul, South Korea, in order to explore how they perceive and desire social support in an aging society. The qualitative methods in this study also included thematic analysis and constant comparison to identify three main themes: “no or denied support,” “not to be greedy and shameless,” and “justification and hopelessness.” In the interviews, perceived and desired support did not emerge immediately as the participants were reluctant to share personal concerns with or to seek support from others. Nevertheless, they would turn to spouses and children for both emotional and instrumental support when in dire need. A shared norm among the participants was that seeking support would be an embarrassing and shameless act for themselves and a burden to others. They justified the discrepancy between the perceived and desired support as part of aging and felt hopelessness about it. The findings of this study have implications that implicit, individual social support may be effective than explicit, group support activities for those who are passive in recognizing the need for and seeking social support. In assessing and interpreting social support in old age, both perceived and desired support should be included and contextual approaches can be useful in so doing. The senior centers should be a more active advocate of successful aging that would offset hopelessness, negative attitude toward life, and social disconnection. Future research should focus on identifying effective strategies to bridge the gap between perceived and desired social support in older adults in this society of changing values and social norms.

Physicians' Needs in Coping With Emotional Stressors

To design an evidence-based intervention to address physician distress, based on the attitudes toward support among physicians at our hospital. A 56-item survey was administered to a convenience sample (n = 108) of resident and attending physicians at surgery, emergency medicine, and anesthesiology departmental conferences at a large tertiary care academic hospital. Likelihood of seeking support, perceived barriers, awareness of available services, sources of support, and experience with stress. Among the resident and attending physicians, 79% experienced either a serious adverse patient event and/or a traumatic personal event within the preceding year. Willingness to seek support was reported for legal situations (72%), involvement in medical errors (67%), adverse patient events (63%), substance abuse (67%), physical illness (62%), mental illness (50%), and interpersonal conflict at work (50%). Barriers included lack of time (89%), uncertainty or difficulty with access (69%), concerns about lack of confidentiality (68%), negative impact on career (68%), and stigma (62%). Physician colleagues were the most popular potential sources of support (88%), outnumbering traditional mechanisms such as the employee assistance program (29%) and mental health professionals (48%). Based on these results, a one-on-one peer physician support program was incorporated into support services at our hospital. Despite the prevalence of stressful experiences and the desire for support among physicians, established services are underused. As colleagues are the most acceptable sources of support, we advocate peer support as the most effective way to address this sensitive but important issue.

Coping With My Partner’s ICD and Cardiac Disease

The Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD) is an implantable biomedical device that monitors and treats abnormal heartbeats when they occur. The device is attached to the heart with 1 to 3 leads that carry information from the heart to the ICD, allowing it to record heart function, selectively provide pacing if the heart beats too fast or too slowly, and/or administer high-energy shocks if more serious heart rhythms are detected. The primary purpose of the ICD is to prevent premature sudden cardiac death. However, the device can also provide a sense of security, which allows resumption of normal life activities. Current research has suggested that psychological distress can occur in ICD patients and their partners. Anxiety may be more prevalent in ICD partners than in ICD patients.1 ICD partners are particularly worried about ICD shocks, even more so than the patients themselves.2 This Patient Page describes common challenges associated with the psychological adjustment of ICD partners and offers possible strategies to consider in managing these difficulties. A summary is provided in the Table. View this table: Table. Summary of Suggested Strategies for the Partners of Patients With ICDs Once the ICD has been implanted, lifestyle adjustments can be made that promote health and well-being. However, such adjustments may take time and a bit of work; most people take about 3 months to adjust to such major life changes. A patient’s adjustment often mirrors the partner’s adjustment, so effective coping can improve both of your lives. ### Patient Acceptance Patient acceptance refers to how well an individual adapts to the ICD and accepts its pros and cons. Patients and partners may differ on how well they accept the device. The hope for ICD patients is that they reengage with the confidence of having “an emergency room in the chest”; yet some patients experience difficulty and …

Attachment styles and the evaluation of comforting responses: A receiver perspective

The current study explored emotional distress and comforting messages from a receiver's perspective. This approach differs from most comforting research, which focuses on the sender's ability to provide comfort. After reading a scenario that depicted a major distressing event or a daily distressing event, subjects selected the Burleson and Samter (1985) comforting strategy that would most alleviate their emotional distress. In an attempt to explain a subject's perceptions of comforting, attachment styles, likelihood of seeking support, and level of emotional discomfort were also assessed. Results indicated that subjects desired a mid‐level comforting response regardless of whether they were distressed over a daily event or major event. This result is counter to the sender oriented comforting research, which suggests that providing higher‐level comforting responses is optimal. Subjects in the death scenario were more upset by the event and more likely to seek social support. Secure attachment subjects desired a significantly higher‐level comforting message than anxious/ambivalent and avoidant individuals. Additionally, females desired a higher level comforting response, were more likely to be upset by the distress, and were more likely to seek support than males.

Revisiting the factor structure of the ways of coping checklist: A three-dimensional view of the problem-focused coping scale. A study among norwegian physicians

The factor structure of the Ways of Coping Checklist (WCCL) developed by Folkman and Lazarus was re-examined and the emerging factors related to eight different measures of health and stress in a large representative sample of Norwegian physicians ( N = 1030). The 42-item Vitaliano revision of the WCCL was applied, and a six-factor solution of the principal component analysis was chosen as the most appropriate one. The traditional comprehensive Problem-focused coping factor was split into three new ones: a narrower, more instrumental Action-oriented factor, an Accommodation factor and a Positive thinking factor. Vitaliano's Seek support and Self-blame scales were reproduced, while the Wishful thinking and Avoidance scales collapsed to one Defense factor. The health related validity of the new solution was examined in two parallel series of regression analyses. Our new WCCL-dimensions were included as hypothetical predictors of health and stress in one series, and the Vitaliano factors in another. Whereas the comprehensive Problem-focused coping dimension predicted the health and stress measures significantly in six of the equations, the new Action-oriented coping factor was not included in any of them. Accommodation and Positive thinking seem to account for most of the variance covered by the comprehensive Problem-focused coping scale. It is argued that Accommodation and Positive thinking are more productive ways of coping when the source of stress is not likely to be eliminated or substantially weakened by individual action.

Social Support: Seek and Ye Shall Find

Studies of social support typically have relegated the recipient of support to a passive role. Little empirical work has looked at an individual's active attempts to garner support from others. Two studies are reported that investigate individual differences in active support seeking. In study one (n = 66), the criterion validity of a new scale - dubbed SEEK - was demonstrated. Subjects who reported that they seek support from others in times of need (as measured by SEEK) requested more social support following failure at a laboratory task than did subjects who reported that they do not seek social support. Study two (n = 60) examined the relationship between the reported seeking of social support and its perceived availability. As predicted, a positive relationship obtained, suggesting that those who received social support may in part have created this condition. Seeking social support was also positively associated with self-esteem, self-efficacy, and optimistic beliefs about the consequences of seeking support. People who seek social support may be psychologically predisposed to do so. Taken together, these studies imply that investigations of social support should take into account: (a) people's active roles in obtaining support, and (b) the psychological concomitants of support seeking.

Bellamy, NYSNA Seek Support for Expanded Practice Bill

Bellamy, NYSNA Seek Support for Expanded Practice Bill