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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Mental Health
Volume 12 - 2024 |
doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1504720
The Help-Seeking Process and Predictors of Mental Health Care Use among Individuals with Depressive Symptoms: A Machine Learning Approach
Provisionally accepted- 1 Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical Faculty, University Leipzig, Leipzig, Lower Saxony, Germany
- 2 Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- 3 Department of Health and Prevention, Institute of Psychology, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany
- 4 Health and Medical University Erfurt, Erfurt, Thuringia, Germany
- 5 Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Leipzig, Leipzig, Lower Saxony, Germany
Purpose: The goal of the study was to identify the most important influences on professional healthcare use of people with depressive symptoms. We incorporated findings from research areas of health behaviors, stigma, and motivation to predict the help-seeking process variables from a wide range of personal factors and attitudes. Methods: A sample of 1368 adults with untreated depressive symptoms participated in an online survey with three- and six-month follow-ups. We conducted multiple linear regressions for (a) help-seeking attitudes, and (b) help-seeking intentions, and logistic regression for (c) help-seeking behavior with machine learning methods. Results: While self-stigma and treatment experience are important influences on help-seeking attitudes, complaint perception is relevant for intention. The best predictor for healthcare use remains the intention. Along the help-seeking process, we detected a shift of relevant factors from broader perceptions of mental illness and help-seeking to concrete suffering, i.e. subjective symptom perception. Conclusion: The results suggest a spectrum of influencing factors ranging from personal, self-determined factors to socially normalized factors. We discuss social influences on professional help-seeking and the use of combined public health programs and tailored help-seeking interventions.
Keywords: Help-seeking, depressive symptoms, Mental illness stigma, machine learning, healthcare use
Received: 01 Oct 2024; Accepted: 06 Nov 2024.
Copyright: © 2024 Peter, Juergensen, Steyrl, Sumaly Lor, Phi Bui, McLaren, Muehlan, Tomczyk, Schmidt and Schomerus. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Lina-Jolien Peter, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical Faculty, University Leipzig, Leipzig, Lower Saxony, Germany
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