Do you feel confident enough to seek help: The relationship between mental health confidence and help-seeking intentions and help-seeking in military members

Abstract: The literature review supports that when looking at help-seeking behaviors, specifically in the military population, there is a significant amount of service members who endorse mental health concerns or distress but do not seek help for their mental health (Hom et al.,2017). The range of mental health concerns includes depression, anxiety, adjustment disorder, posttraumatic stress, suicidal ideations, and substance abuse behaviors, to name a few (Waitzkin et al., 2018). Physiological concerns may also arise when mental health concerns are not attended to within the military, which primarily has been supported to be exhibited as unsolicited weight gain, insomnia, and maladaptive coping strategies (Maclean, 2012; Heyat et al., 2021). A sample of 102 adult participants (ages 18-59) were recruited from a Southern state Army National Guard unit. For the first research question, a linear regression model was utilized to investigate the relationship between general self-efficacy and mental health confidence. The first research question asked: Does general self-efficacy have a relationship to mental health confidence in military members? The second research question utilized a multivariate analysis. The second research question investigated: Does mental health confidence have a relationship with help-seeking intentions and/or help-seeking attitudes? The third research question utilized the analysis of indirect effects. The third research question investigated: Does military stigma and self-reliance indirectly affect the relationship between mental health confidence and help-seeking intentions and/or help-seeking attitudes? Measures included were the General Self-Efficacy Scale, Mental Health Confidence Scale, Help-Seeking Intention Scale, Help-Seeking Attitude Scale, Military Stigma Scale, Self-Reliance Scale, and a series of military service-related questions and demographic items. The gathered data was analyzed utilizing linear regression and indirect effect path analysis. Results from the Analyses chapter support the idea that general self-efficacy has a significant and positive relationship to mental health confidence. Mental health confidence did not significantly predict help-seeking intentions or help-seeking attitudes. Mental health confidence does have a significant and positive effect on help-seeking intentions. Implications and considerations for theory, clinical practice, and future research are discussed.

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