Department of Psychiatry II,University of Ulm and BKH Günzburg,Ulm,Germany.
Medical College,Henan University of Science and Technology,Henan,China.
Psychol Med. 2018 Dec;48(16):2658-2667. doi: 10.1017/S0033291718001265. Epub 2018 Jun 1.
Help-seeking is important to access appropriate care and improve mental health. However, individuals often delay or avoid seeking help for mental health problems. Interventions to improve help-seeking have been developed, but their effectiveness is unclear. A systematic review and meta-analysis were therefore conducted to examine the effectiveness of mental health related help-seeking interventions. Nine databases in English, German and Chinese were searched for randomised and non-randomised controlled trials. Effect sizes were calculated for attitudes, intentions and behaviours to seek formal, informal and self-help. Ninety-eight studies with 69 208 participants were included. Interventions yielded significant short-term benefits in terms of formal help-seeking, self-help, as well as mental health literacy and personal stigma. There were also positive long-term effects on formal help-seeking behaviours. The most common intervention types were strategies to increase mental health literacy, destigmatisation (both had positive short-term effects on formal help-seeking behaviours) as well as motivational enhancement (with positive long-term effects on formal help-seeking behaviours). Interventions improved formal help-seeking behaviours if delivered to people with or at risk of mental health problems, but not among children, adolescents or the general public. There was no evidence that interventions increased the use of informal help. Few studies were conducted in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This study provides evidence for the effectiveness of help-seeking interventions in terms of improving attitudes, intentions and behaviours to seek formal help for mental health problems among adults. Future research should develop effective interventions to improve informal help-seeking, for specific target groups and in LMICs settings.
寻求帮助对于获得适当的治疗和改善心理健康至关重要。然而，个体通常会延迟或避免寻求心理健康问题的帮助。已经开发了干预措施来改善寻求帮助的行为，但这些措施的效果尚不清楚。因此，进行了系统评价和荟萃分析，以检验与心理健康相关的寻求帮助干预措施的有效性。以英文、德文和中文搜索了 9 个数据库，以查找随机和非随机对照试验。计算了寻求正式、非正式和自助帮助的态度、意图和行为的效应大小。共纳入了 98 项研究，涉及 69208 名参与者。干预措施在短期内对正式寻求帮助、自我帮助以及心理健康素养和个人耻辱感有显著效果。在正式寻求帮助行为方面也有积极的长期影响。最常见的干预类型是提高心理健康素养的策略、去耻辱化（这两种策略都对正式寻求帮助行为有短期的积极影响）以及动机增强（对正式寻求帮助行为有长期的积极影响）。如果干预措施针对有或有心理健康问题风险的人群，而不是儿童、青少年或普通公众，它们可以改善正式寻求帮助的行为。没有证据表明干预措施增加了非正式帮助的使用。很少有研究在中低收入国家（LMICs）进行。本研究为寻求帮助干预措施在改善成年人寻求心理健康问题的正式帮助的态度、意图和行为方面的有效性提供了证据。未来的研究应针对特定目标群体和中低收入国家的背景，开发有效的干预措施来改善非正式寻求帮助的行为。
