The relationship between beliefs towards mental illness and psychological help-seeking attitudes of medical vocational high school students

Abstract

Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between beliefs towards mental illness and psychological help-seekingattitudes of medical vocational high school students.Material and Methods: The sample of this analytical study consisted of 364 students studying at a medical vocational high schoolfrom February 1, 2019 to March 31, 2019. Data were collected using Student Information Form, Belief towards Mental Illness Scaleand Attitudes toward Seeking Psychological Help Scale-Shortened. Descriptive data were analyzed using Mann–Whitney U-test andSpearman’s rank correlation coefficient test since data were not normally distributed.Results: The mean total Belief towards Mental Illness Scale score of the students was 50.08±17.32. The mean scores of subscaleswere 22.31±7.66 for dangerousness, 2.12±2.75 for embarrassment, and 50.08±17.32 for desperateness/poor social and interpersonalskills. The mean scores of positive and negative psychological help-seeking attitudes of the students were 46.79±10.51 and21.33±5.92, respectively. Positive psychological help-seeking attitude was found to have a weak and negative correlation withdangerousness (r=0.131) and desperateness (r=0.107) subscales whereas a weak and positive correlation was observed withthe embarrassment (r=0.202) subscale (p