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Understanding Psychological Help-Seeking: The Role of Perceived LGBTQ+ Community Support.
Dawn M Szymanski1, Vardaan Dua1, James D Goates1
1Department of Psychology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA.
Journal of Homosexuality
|June 4, 2024
Summary
Perceived LGBTQ+ community support for psychotherapy positively influences sexual minorities' willingness to seek counseling and use mental health services. This support reduces stigma and promotes positive help-seeking attitudes.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Sociology
- Public Health
Background:
- Sexual minority individuals often face barriers to mental health care.
- Community support is a crucial contextual factor influencing health behaviors.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the relationship between perceived LGBTQ+ community support for psychotherapy and mental health service utilization among sexual minority persons.
- To investigate the mediating roles of stigma and help-seeking attitudes in this relationship.
Main Methods:
- Cross-sectional study involving 721 sexual minority individuals.
- Utilized the newly developed LGBTQ+ Community Support for Psychotherapy Scale.
- Bivariate and serial mediation analyses were conducted.
Main Results:
- Positive correlation found between LGBTQ+ community support for psychotherapy and both willingness to seek counseling and past-year mental health service use.
- Community support indirectly influenced willingness to seek counseling through reduced public stigma, self-stigma, and more positive help-seeking attitudes.
- Community support indirectly influenced past-year mental health service use via the same mediating variables.
Conclusions:
- Contextual factors, specifically LGBTQ+ community support, play a significant role in psychological help-seeking for sexual minority individuals.
- Interventions aimed at increasing community support may enhance mental health service accessibility and utilization.
- Findings underscore the importance of supportive community environments for the mental well-being of sexual minorities.
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