April 7-9, 2022 • Hyatt Regency • Lexington, KY
Communication Strategies to Promote Comprehensive Well-being
Communication Strategies to Promote Comprehensive Well-being
Abstract: Defining the Concept of Help-seeking to Support Efforts in Predicting Health Related Behaviors
‘Help-seeking’ has become more prominent in the last decade, with attempts to understand factors that are involved in what causes individuals’ either delay or prompt response in seeking support for health related conditions. Particularly for mental health related symptomatology and diagnoses, delay in treatment or help negation, and associated consequences, have driven an increase in interest in research on this topic (Cornally & McCarthy, 2011). Though the concept has become more common in the literature, it is often used interchangeably with health seeking for describing behavior related to health and/or illness. Contextual factors such as social/community norms, social and/or self-expectations, individual and family behavior, often affect decision-making processes that either lead to health/help seeking behavior or avoidance, as well as factors stemming from healthcare providers (i.e., characteristics and/or behavior), that influence the decision making process (Gerald & Ogwuche, 2014). Engaging in delay and/or negation of need for help results in health complications, decreased health outcomes, decreased quality of life, less availability of treatment options, and often increased cost of healthcare (Scott & Walter, 2010). Reaching consensus in definition might be important to support ability to predict behaviors related to help seeking considering that help seeking is often understood as crucial for prevention and recovery. Xu et al. (2018) posit that help seeking is often avoided and/or delayed by individuals, given barriers that are both external and internal to the individual. As a result of the complex and nuanced nature of help seeking and the many contexts in which it manisfests, it is not surprising that a myriad of definitions have emerged. In order to understand how the concept of help-seeking has been used across the disciplines of medicine, nursing, and mental health, a review of relevant literature is being conducted in an effort to explore similarities, differences, and possible future avenues to generate a general definition that might support future efforts in predicting help-seeking behaviors for varying populations. Preliminary findings reveal the concept of help-seeking has been used without a definition (assuming definition), as a decision making process that entails there is a recognition of a problem that requires help seeking, and as a rational process of behavior (behavior as the catalyst for the help-seeking process). In addition, help-seeking has also been understood as a response to a situation that leads to introspection, thus initiating the process of help-seeking, as health promotion that results from an expressed desire to seek information, as an individual’s willingness and/or intention to seek-help, and as the actual help seeking from a health related facility. Further, help-seeking has been understood as a coping mechanism in lieu of demands exceeding coping capability, as intentional action stemming from awareness, problem recognition, and definition, as well as actions leading to the promotion of wellness, recovery, and/or rehabilitation. Not surprisingly, help-seeking in the context of mental health was understood through concepts such as awareness (awareness of a problem that demands help), coping (when coping is no longer possible), and disclosure (help seeking for mental health requires disclosure).