Attitudes towards mental illness and their effects on barriers in seeking psychological help: A study from the perspective of indigenous university students in Sabah

The mental health programs/campaigns organized by the relevant authorities can help elevate awareness among Indigenous students’ attitudes towards seeking psychological support. It is assumed that attitude towards mental illness can affect their interest in gaining psychological support when experie...

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Main Authors: Getrude C. Ah Gang, Eric Manuel Torres, Lua Pei Lin, Kok Ann Gie
Format: Article
Language:English
English
Published: ResearchGate 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/41001/1/ABSTRACT.pdf
https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/41001/2/FULL%20TEXT.pdf
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author Getrude C. Ah Gang
Eric Manuel Torres
Lua Pei Lin
Kok Ann Gie
author_facet Getrude C. Ah Gang
Eric Manuel Torres
Lua Pei Lin
Kok Ann Gie
author_sort Getrude C. Ah Gang
collection UMS
description The mental health programs/campaigns organized by the relevant authorities can help elevate awareness among Indigenous students’ attitudes towards seeking psychological support. It is assumed that attitude towards mental illness can affect their interest in gaining psychological support when experiencing distress and depression. To explore this phenomenon, 87 Indigenous students in Sabah were involved in this study. Participants were selected via a random sampling of readily available and willing students. Data was collected using Google Formslinks and faceto-face surveys. The data was then analyzed using descriptive and inferential analysis. This study aimed to examine students’ attitudes towards mental illness and its impact on barriers to seeking psychological support. Based on a simple regression analysis, the study found that students’ attitudes had no significant effect on obstacles to seeking psychological help. However, students’ attitudes showed notable negative effects on one barrier component (i.e., perceived devaluation). The attitudes towards mental illness contributed 8.2 percent of the variance in perceived devaluation. This indicates that Indigenous students who showed more positive attitudes towards mental illness tended to demonstrate less perceived devaluation in seeking psychological help (e.g., they disagreed that their self-confidence might decrease if they sought psychological support from a professional). These positive attitudes likely derive from mental health programs/campaigns organized by universities and relevant organizations. Indeed, highlighting the importance of fostering positive mental health awareness for Indigenous university students may help to reduce the impediments to students seeking psychological help.
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spelling ums.eprints-410012024-09-05T02:56:32Z https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/41001/ Attitudes towards mental illness and their effects on barriers in seeking psychological help: A study from the perspective of indigenous university students in Sabah Getrude C. Ah Gang Eric Manuel Torres Lua Pei Lin Kok Ann Gie HV1551-3024 People with disabilities: Including blind, deaf, people with physical and mental disabilities RC435-571 Psychiatry The mental health programs/campaigns organized by the relevant authorities can help elevate awareness among Indigenous students’ attitudes towards seeking psychological support. It is assumed that attitude towards mental illness can affect their interest in gaining psychological support when experiencing distress and depression. To explore this phenomenon, 87 Indigenous students in Sabah were involved in this study. Participants were selected via a random sampling of readily available and willing students. Data was collected using Google Formslinks and faceto-face surveys. The data was then analyzed using descriptive and inferential analysis. This study aimed to examine students’ attitudes towards mental illness and its impact on barriers to seeking psychological support. Based on a simple regression analysis, the study found that students’ attitudes had no significant effect on obstacles to seeking psychological help. However, students’ attitudes showed notable negative effects on one barrier component (i.e., perceived devaluation). The attitudes towards mental illness contributed 8.2 percent of the variance in perceived devaluation. This indicates that Indigenous students who showed more positive attitudes towards mental illness tended to demonstrate less perceived devaluation in seeking psychological help (e.g., they disagreed that their self-confidence might decrease if they sought psychological support from a professional). These positive attitudes likely derive from mental health programs/campaigns organized by universities and relevant organizations. Indeed, highlighting the importance of fostering positive mental health awareness for Indigenous university students may help to reduce the impediments to students seeking psychological help. ResearchGate 2024 Article NonPeerReviewed text en https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/41001/1/ABSTRACT.pdf text en https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/41001/2/FULL%20TEXT.pdf Getrude C. Ah Gang and Eric Manuel Torres and Lua Pei Lin and Kok Ann Gie (2024) Attitudes towards mental illness and their effects on barriers in seeking psychological help: A study from the perspective of indigenous university students in Sabah. Asia Pacific Journal of Youth Studies, 3 (1). pp. 1-20. http://dx.doi.org/10.56390/apjys2024.24.70.88
spellingShingle HV1551-3024 People with disabilities: Including blind, deaf, people with physical and mental disabilities
RC435-571 Psychiatry
Getrude C. Ah Gang
Eric Manuel Torres
Lua Pei Lin
Kok Ann Gie
Attitudes towards mental illness and their effects on barriers in seeking psychological help: A study from the perspective of indigenous university students in Sabah
title Attitudes towards mental illness and their effects on barriers in seeking psychological help: A study from the perspective of indigenous university students in Sabah
title_full Attitudes towards mental illness and their effects on barriers in seeking psychological help: A study from the perspective of indigenous university students in Sabah
title_fullStr Attitudes towards mental illness and their effects on barriers in seeking psychological help: A study from the perspective of indigenous university students in Sabah
title_full_unstemmed Attitudes towards mental illness and their effects on barriers in seeking psychological help: A study from the perspective of indigenous university students in Sabah
title_short Attitudes towards mental illness and their effects on barriers in seeking psychological help: A study from the perspective of indigenous university students in Sabah
title_sort attitudes towards mental illness and their effects on barriers in seeking psychological help a study from the perspective of indigenous university students in sabah
topic HV1551-3024 People with disabilities: Including blind, deaf, people with physical and mental disabilities
RC435-571 Psychiatry
url https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/41001/1/ABSTRACT.pdf
https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/41001/2/FULL%20TEXT.pdf
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