Graduation Term

2019

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Department of Psychology: Clinical-Counseling Psychology

Committee Chair

Daniel G. Lannin

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of source authority and message framing on compliance with mental health treatment recommendations. The current study used measures of attitudes and intentions to seek psychological help as well as the likelihood that an individual will request initial counseling information as proxies for observing help-seeking behavior. A pretest and posttest experimental design was implemented. Participants were 273 students at Illinois State University. At pretest, participants completed a demographic questionnaire, the Kessler K6+, the Mental Help Seeking Attitudes Scale (MHSAS), the Mental Help Seeking Intentions Scale (MHSIS), and indicated engagement in past psychological help seeking. At posttest, participants were exposed to a hypothetical mental health treatment recommendation, and recompleted the Kessler K6+, MHSAS, MHSIS, and had the opportunity to request counseling information. No significant main effects were found for source authority on attitudes towards psychological help, intentions to engage in psychological help seeking, or decisions to request counseling information. No significant interaction effects for source authority and message framing were found on intentions to seek psychological help or decisions to request counseling information. Future research could investigate ways to increase mental health treatment utilization by measuring actual help seeking behavior.

Access Type

Thesis-Open Access

DOI

http://doi.org/10.30707/ETD2019.Ess.M

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