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. 2023 Aug;10(4):1869-1877.
doi: 10.1007/s40615-022-01370-y. Epub 2022 Jul 19.

Predictors of Help-Seeking for Mental Health Treatment Among Latinos

Robin E Gearing  1 , Micki Washburn  2 , Kathryne B Brewer  3 , Miao Yu  2 , Arlene Bjugstad  4 , Luis R Torres  5
Affiliations

Predictors of Help-Seeking for Mental Health Treatment Among Latinos

Robin E Gearing et al. J Racial Ethn Health Disparities. 2023 Aug.

Abstract

Objectives: Despite mental health disorders being a leading cause of disability among Latinos, treatment-seeking behaviors are very low. Latinos are confronted with significant disparities in mental health treatment. This research study sought to examine (1) what are the attitudes toward professional help-seeking for mental health concerns among Latino individuals and (2) what participant characteristics and demographic factors are associated with Latino individuals' help-seeking attitudes.

Methods: Employing a cross-sectional sampling strategy, 469 participants were recruited for a community-based survey study in the greater Houston area measuring mental health stigma and help-seeking attitudes. Structural equation modeling was used to estimate the associations between Latinos' help-seeking attitudes and sociodemographic characteristics of participants.

Results: Findings indicate that openness towards seeking professional help for mental health concerns is influenced by participants' age, marital status, gender, region of origin, education, public stigma, and self-stigma towards mental health problem. Findings support future research to examine broader systemic factors associated with help seeking and how they interact with sociodemographic characteristics and stigma.

Conclusions: Latinos, even in parts of the country where they reside in high concentrations, continue to have low levels of mental health service utilization. Understanding the specific pathways that predict help-seeking for mental health issues is essential to systematically promoting early detection and entry into evidence-based treatments for Latinos.

Keywords: Help-seeking; Latinos; Mental health; Service utilization; Stigma.

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