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Attitudes towards seeking mental health services among older adults: personal and contextual correlates
- Authors:
- KESSLER Eva-Marie, AGINES Sabrina, BOWEN Catherine E.
- Journal article citation:
- Aging and Mental Health, 19(2), 2014, pp.182-191.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
This study investigates a wide range of contextual (e.g. physical access, residence) and personal (e.g. perceived social support, life satisfaction, openness to experience) predictors of attitudes towards seeking mental health services (ATSMHS) in a sample of 156 older community-dwelling adults in Germany. It was predicted that representations of old age as well as perceptions of (younger) psychotherapists would be uniquely important for determining ATSMHS. Method: Participants completed questionnaire measures which were analysed using hierarchical linear regression analyses to identify predictors of ATSMHS. Results: In the final saturated model, female gender, urban residence, personal and vicarious experience with psychotherapy, and higher perceived social support were each associated with more positive ATSMHS. In addition, more positive representations of old age and less negative perceptions of (younger) psychotherapists explained unique variance in ATSMHS over and above the other predictors. The overall model was significant and explained 49% of the variance in ATSMHS. Conclusion: The findings can be used to inform interventions to improve older adults’ ATSMHS. Interventions that seek to improve older adults’ representations of their own ageing as well as of psychotherapists may be useful for reducing the treatment gap. (Edited publisher abstract)