Help-Seeking Behaviors Among Older Adults: A Scoping Review

Abstract

Although older adults may experience health challenges requiring increased care, they often do not ask for help. This scoping review explores the factors associated with the help-seeking behaviors of older adults, and briefly discusses how minority ethnic populations can face additional challenges in help-seeking, due to factors such as language barriers and differing health beliefs. Guided by Arksey and O’Malley’s scoping review framework and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-AnalysesScoping Review guidelines, a systematic search of five databases was conducted. Using a qualitative meta-synthesis framework, emergent themes were identified. Data from 52 studies meeting inclusion criteria were organized into five themes: formal and informal supports, independence, symptom appraisal, accessibility and awareness, and language, alternative medicine and residency. Identifying how factors, including independence and symptom appraisal, relate to older adults’ help-seeking behaviors may provide insights into how this population can be supported to seek help more effectively.

Effects of adverse life events on mental health in single older adults in Japan

“…This tendency contributed to improving and maintaining mental health, regardless of gender. This finding is consistent with previous studies 3–5 and suggests that people tend to seek help from others when they encounter problems they cannot resolve on their own.…”

“…[1][2][3] Previous studies have reported correlations between whether people decide to seek help and the problem severity. [3][4][5] For example, Phillips and Murrell (1994) reported that the middle-aged and older adults in their study who sought help experienced more stressful events than those who did not seek help. 5 This finding suggests that middle-aged and older adults facing more severe problems are more likely to engage in help-seeking behaviours compared to those who have experienced less severe ones.…”

The characteristics, life problems and clinical management of older adults who self‐harm: Findings from the multicentre study of self‐harm in England

“…Also, the gender ratio of self‐harm rates usually seen in younger age groups was not observed, with the rate higher in men aged 75 years and over than in women of the same age which aligns with previous findings 6,11 . This gender reversal and the increase in rates in 60–74 years olds might be explained by men, including those in older age groups, having lower levels of help‐seeking behaviour and consequently being less likely to access health services than do women 17,34 . This is supported by our findings that men over 60 years were less likely to have been receiving psychiatric treatment at the time of self‐harm or have received such treatment in the past, despite a similar proportion of men and women having a history of self‐harm over the 12 months preceding their self‐harm presentation.…”

Why do older adults living alone in cities cease seeking assistance? A qualitative study in China

“…Previous studies have focused on the possible reasons for underutilization of HCBS in older adults. Although older people are the main consumers of healthcare services, stereotypes, prejudice, discrimination, and structural obstacles such as inconvenient transportation, shortage of geriatric specialists, and the spread of digital healthcare make it difficult for older people to access relevant resources [19,20]. Our research team conducted a qualitative study to reconstructed the paths and obstacles encountered by older adults in seeking community care services, and found multiple barriers, which were lack of community care information, limited mobility, complex process of achieving care, and incomprehension of needs expression, deterred the access of care resources for older adults effectively [21].…”