Drane Catherine F, Jalleh Geoffrey, Lin Chad, Donovan Robert J
National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia.
School of Public Health, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia.
Health Promot J Austr. 2023 Feb;34(1):232-236. doi: 10.1002/hpja.605. Epub 2022 Apr 26.
Despite the high prevalence of mental ill-health amongst Australians, many people do not seek help for their mental ill-health. A delay in help-seeking is associated with poorer outcomes. This study investigated the extent to which the Act-Belong-Commit mental health promotion campaign prompted people to seek information or professional help for mental ill-health.
A sample of 1200 respondents took part in two state-wide surveys (n = 600 each). Participants aware of the Act-Belong-Commit campaign were asked questions related to information-seeking and help-seeking behaviours because of the campaign.
Of those aware of the campaign, 8% stated that the campaign prompted them to seek information and 4% stated that the campaign prompted them to seek help for a mental health problem. Those with a mental illness experience (MIE) were significantly more likely than those without to report that the campaign prompted them to look for information (12% vs 6%) and seek help for a mental health problem (9.5% vs 1.2%). Extrapolating these results to the total adult population of Western Australia indicated that around 120 000 adults had sought mental health information, and around 60 000 had sought help as a result of the campaign.
The campaign not only initiated the seeking of information or professional help for a mental health problem amongst those with no prior thoughts of such, but also prompted those who were already thinking about seeking information or getting help to act sooner than they otherwise would. SO WHAT?: Although previous research suggests that mental health literacy interventions have limited impact on help-seeking, the presented data show that the Act-Belong-Commit approach can have a significant impact on help-seeking, particularly amongst those with a MIE, which could yield substantial social and economic return on investment benefits if intensified at both the media and community grass roots levels.
尽管澳大利亚人中精神健康不佳的患病率很高，但许多人并未就其精神健康问题寻求帮助。寻求帮助的延迟与更差的结果相关。本研究调查了“行动-归属-奉献”精神健康促进运动促使人们就精神健康问题寻求信息或专业帮助的程度。
1200名受访者参与了两项全州范围的调查（每项调查n = 600）。知晓“行动-归属-奉献”运动的参与者被问及与因该运动而进行的信息寻求和帮助寻求行为相关的问题。
在知晓该运动的人群中，8%表示该运动促使他们寻求信息，4%表示该运动促使他们就心理健康问题寻求帮助。有精神疾病经历（MIE）的人比没有的人更有可能报告该运动促使他们寻找信息（12%对6%）以及就心理健康问题寻求帮助（9.5%对1.2%）。将这些结果推算至西澳大利亚州的成年总人口表明，约12万成年人因该运动寻求了精神健康信息，约6万人因该运动寻求了帮助。
该运动不仅促使那些之前没有此类想法的人就心理健康问题寻求信息或专业帮助，还促使那些已经在考虑寻求信息或帮助的人比原本更早采取行动。那又如何？：尽管先前的研究表明精神健康素养干预对寻求帮助的影响有限，但所呈现的数据表明，“行动-归属-奉献”方法对寻求帮助可产生重大影响，尤其是在有精神疾病经历的人群中，如果在媒体和社区基层层面加强推广，这可能会带来可观的社会和经济投资回报效益。
