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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Beliefs about mental illness and willingness to seek help
— a cross-sectional study | | Author(s) | D L Segal, F L Coolidge, M S Mincic |
| Journal title | Aging & Mental Health, vol 9, no 4, July 2005 |
| Pages | pp 363-369 |
| Source | http://www.tandfonline.com |
| Keywords | Mental disorder ; Psychiatric treatment ; Usage [services] ; Attitude ; Cross sectional surveys ; United States of America. |
| Annotation | Evidence indicates that older people under-utilise mental health services, but little is known empirically about the perceptions older people have about mental illness and the attitudes about seeking professional help for psychological problems. This study examined beliefs about mental illness and willingness to seek help among 96 younger (ages 17-26) and 79 older (ages 60-95) people. Participants completed the Beliefs Towards Mental Illness Scale and the Willingness to Seek Help Questionnaire. Both age groups had generally similar perceptions of mental illness, except that older people were more likely to perceive the mentally ill as being embarrassing and having poor social skills. Older people also did not report a lower willingness to seek psychological help. Correlational analyses showed that, among older people, increases in negative attitudes about mental illness (specifically, the view that the mentally ill have poor interpersonal skills) are associated with decreases in willingness to seek psychological services. An implication is that negative stereotypes about mental illness held by some older people could play a role in their under-use of mental health services. Other barriers to mental health care are also discussed. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-060202224 A |
| Classmark | E: LP: QLD: DP: 3KB: 7T |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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