The effect of mental health literacy on psychological help-seeking intention, among Thai undergraduate students in Bangkok

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the effect of mental health literacy on psychological help-seeking intention, mediated by social stigma and self-stigma (at level 1) and attitudes toward seeking psychological help (at level 2) as posited in the form of 4 nested models. Based on the data from 1000 young adult Thai undergraduate students from universities across Bangkok, Thailand. The results revealed that the research instruments were psychometrically sound, that the full path model (model number 4) was the best fitting model, and that the students' mental health literacy had a positive effect on their attitudes and psychological help-seeking intention. This literacy level led to the students being highly aware of the stigmas present in their context, which was reflected in their stigma scores. Social stigma and self-stigma negatively mediated the effect of mental health literacy on attitudes and intention. And ultimately, attitudes had a direct positive effect on students' psychological help-seeking intention. The proposed model was adequate in predicting the students' psychological help-seeking intention