Help-Seeking Intentions for Depression and Associated Factors Among Chinese Perinatal Women: A Cross-Sectional Study

Overview

Journal Int J Environ Res Public Health

Publisher MDPI

Specialties Environmental Health
Public Health

Date 2023 Feb 11

PMID 36767654

Authors

Sasa Huang

Ying Hu

Bing Fu

Guanxiu Tang

Zhihong Chen

Lijuan Zhang

Meili Xiao

Jun Lei

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

A low help-seeking intention for depression is an important reason for the low number of women with perinatal depression who have sought professional help. However, evidence of help-seeking intentions for depression is still lacking in Chinese perinatal women. We aimed to investigate the help-seeking intention for depression and its associated factors among Chinese perinatal women. Participants were recruited from three comprehensive hospitals in Changsha. A total of 874 perinatal women were included in the study. The score for the help-seeking intention for depression in Chinese perinatal women was 3.65 ± 0.79, with about half of participants (58.3%) reporting that they were "likely" and "strongly likely" to seek professional help if they suffered from depression during the perinatal period. Favorable help-seeking attitudes and sufficient knowledge of mental illness help-seeking resources were positively associated with help-seeking intentions for depression. However, self-stigma decreased the help-seeking intention for depression. Chinese perinatal women had relatively positive help-seeking intentions for depression. Reducing the stigma of mental illness and help-seeking, enhancing mental health literacy, and improving attitudes toward professional psychological help-seeking of perinatal women may be the potential key components of interventions to encourage perinatal women to actively seek professional psychological help.

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