Relationship between education and likelihood of seeking help in individuals with mental health stigma

Abstract

Developments have been made regarding mental health awareness. It has been noted that the general public still hesitates to seek treatment. The aim of the study is to identify the margin of difference in stigmatization based on their current level of education with seeking mental health care. The research is based on the hypothesis that: There would be a significant relationship between levels of education and likelihood of health seeking behavior in young adults with stigma related to mental health. 150 participants were recruited with equal number of males and females (i.e.75 each) using convenient and snowball sampling techniques. They were further divided into 3 levels of education i.e. 1) Intermediate/A’Levels 2) Undergraduate/Graduate and 3) Post-Graduate/Masters with equal division of males and females (i.e. 25 each). The variables of the study were measured through 3 standardized questionnaires of Duke Health Profile, Attitudes to Mental Illness Questionnaire (AMIQ) and Opinions about Mental Illness (OMI).The data was analyzed using ANOVA statistics. The results concluded a significant positive relationship between the variables, that is, with presence of stigma there would be less likelihood of seeking mental health care in individuals at a low level of education. Whereas, the likelihood of seeking mental health care increases with existence of stigma if individuals have higher level of education.