Men are significantly less likely than women to seek mental health services for problems as diverse as depression, substance abuse, physical disabilities, and stressful life events. The public health implications of the consistent gender differences in help seeking are dramatic. Men's rates of depression and anxiety disorders are increasing, and men's rates of completed suicide are four times higher than women's. The presence of mood or anxiety disorders in men has also been linked to significant collateral problems such as substance abuse, anger, and violence. To date, very little theoretical or empirical work has focused on understanding how issues specific to men are related to help-seeking behavior. The current R34 proposal describes an initial test of a model of men's mental health service utilization for depression and anxiety disorders, in a sample of low-income diverse men. The gender-based social psychological (GBSP) model posits that individual differences in adherence to traditionally masculine norms and beliefs activate basic social psychological processes that militate against help seeking. Although the model is well-supported by empirical research on masculinity and mental health, and the social psychology of help-seeking, few of the mechanisms have been tested in adult non-college men who are in a position to seek mental health services. 100 men experiencing symptoms of depression or anxiety disorders will be recruited through newspaper, radio, and television advertisements, and at booths in local non-mental health community settings. Participants will complete measures of constructs central to the GBSP model and will return 6 months later for a follow-up assessment to determine the predictive validity of the model. 20 separate qualitative interviews will be conducted to support a grounded theory analysis of central tendencies and variations in men's attitudes and behaviors related to seeking mental health services. Data from the initial test of the model will be used to inform development of a brief assessment and personalized feedback intervention designed to increase men's likelihood of help seeking for mood and anxiety disorders. This intervention will target social psychological barriers to help seeking, including self-stigma, perceptions of non-normativeness, masculinity beliefs, and other barriers. The intervention will be tested in an initial pilot study to evaluate its feasibility and acceptability, and to estimate effect sizes for planning a subsequent randomized trial.
| Syzdek, Matthew R; Addis, Michael E; Green, Jonathan D et al. (2014) A Pilot Trial of Gender-Based Motivational Interviewing for Help-Seeking and Internalizing Symptoms in Men. Psychol Men Masc 15:90-94 |
