A new study of almost 800 high school students from the Riverina region of New South Wales has shown that rural adolescents do not believe they would benefit from seeking professional help if they were experiencing emotional problems. The trial was conducted by way of a self-report questionnaire completed by 373 males and 404 females attending seven high schools in several rural towns. The ages of those tested ranged from 13 to 18.
The study was designed to measure the help-seeking intentions in the event that any one of the participants was to experience emotional problems or psychological distress symptoms, and to learn more about factors that might influence their decision on whether or not to find assistance. "Most participants did not believe they would benefit from seeking professional help if they were experiencing emotional problems. A caveat with this finding is that it comes from a sample of adolescents who were not experiencing high levels of psychological distress," Ms Rughani said. "It is possible that adolescents who are experiencing clinical levels of psychological distress may have a different relationship with health professions and display different help-seeking behaviours."
A subscription is required to access this article "Rural adolescents' help-seeking behaviour for emotional problems : The influence of perceived benefits and stoicism" which was published in the April issue of the Australian Journal of Rural Health pages 64-69 (available on CIAP for NSW Health personnel)
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