Citation

Sagar-Ouriaghli I, Brown JSL, Tailor V, Godfrey E. BMC Public Health 2020; 20(1): e1159.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group - BMC)

DOI

10.1186/s12889-020-09269-1

PMID

32709225

PMCID

PMC7379819

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Males are less likely to seek help for mental health difficulties compared to females. Despite considerable interest, a paucity of evidence-based solutions exists to address this. Concerns about students' mental health has led to the United Kingdom's Department of Education to make this a priority. Studies have shown that male students hold more negative attitudes towards the use of psychological services compared to female students and are less likely to seek help. A major concern is that male students make up 69% of university suicides, which is often associated with lower rates of help-seeking. This focus group study therefore sought to identify potential approaches that would be relevant to improving mental health help-seeking in male students.
METHODS: Three focus groups comprising of 24 male students at a London University were conducted. Participants were asked questions exploring: the barriers to seeking help, what would encourage help-seeking, how an appropriate intervention should be designed, and how to publicise this intervention to male students. Thematic analysis was conducted to evaluate participants responses.
RESULTS: Five distinct themes were identified. These were: 1) protecting male vulnerability, 2) providing a masculine narrative of help-seeking, 3) differences over intervention format, 4) difficulty knowing when and how to seek help, and 5) strategies to sensitively engage male students.
CONCLUSIONS: These themes represent important considerations that can be used, together with the existing literature about male help-seeking, to develop more male friendly interventions that are suitable for male students. This could help improve help-seeking attitudes and the uptake of mental health interventions for male students experiencing emotional distress.

Language: en

Keywords

Humans; Adult; Male; Qualitative Research; Universities; Students; Men; Adolescent; Suicide; Young Adult; Focus Groups; Health Services Accessibility; Help-seeking; Mental health; Interventions; London; Patient Acceptance of Health Care; Mental Health Services; Student Health Services