Help-seeking preferences among Chinese college students exposed to a natural disaster: a person-centered approach

Abstract

Background: Direct exposure to natural disasters is associated with increased mental disorders. Help-seeking behaviour among Chinese adults is low and the barriers and facilitators of help-seeking among Chinese adults exposed to natural disasters is understudied. Objective: Using a person-centred approach, this study describes help-seeking preferences and their correlates in a sample of Chinese college students after experiencing Typhoon Hato, the strongest storm to affect Macao, China in the past 50 years. Method: The baseline sample was collected one month following exposure to the Typhoon (September 2017). Six months following the baseline study (April, 2018), a total of 815 students (females = 71.5%) completed follow-up and were included in the data analysis. Latent Class Analysis (LCA) and Multinomial Logistic Regression were used to analyse the data via Mplus 7.4 and Stata 15.0. Results: Three latent classes of help-seeking preferences were identified in this study, including: 'mental health professionals and close people' (MHPCP, 52%), non-seekers (31%), and 'multiple sources' (17%). The results of multinomial logistic regression showed that region of origin (mainland versus Macao, China), self-stigma, perceived helpfulness of professional mental health help, previous professional help-seeking behaviour, and perceived social support, were significantly associated with MHPCP help-seeking preferences. Conclusion: A large proportion of students preferred to seek support from loved ones and professionals. However, over 30% of the sample preferred not seeking help for mental health concerns. Further research is needed to enhance mental health treatment seeking preferences among Chinese college students.

The Cultural Adaptation of Step-by-Step: An Intervention to Address Depression Among Chinese Young Adults

“…Participants in KIIs and FGDs believed that the program could be used to cope with mild and moderate mood symptoms (e.g., depression, anxiety), which is matched with the aim of the designed program. Nevertheless, experts and laypersons suggested framing the program as a stress management tool or academic performance tool instead of mental health intervention in order to reduce the stigma of using a mental health intervention, which is a common treatment barrier among Chinese young adults ( 42 ). According to KIIs, feeling stressed or complaining is a sign of incompetence among Chinese males, suggesting that this is a key element of “face” within this group.…”

“…Supported by an app-based delivery modality, the Chinese SbS is expected to be acceptable by young adults as they are generally perceived acknowledged to be proficient in digital technology. Compared with traditional face-to-face interventions, it is more accessible and promising to reduce the stigma of using a mental health intervention, which is a common barrier to mental health services among Chinese young adults ( 42 ). A majority of participants reported poor wellbeing in our study, and the adapted intervention is also possibly beneficial for the general population to learn coping skills for low mood, stress, and emotional difficulty.…”

Trajectories of Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms Among Young Adults Exposed to a Typhoon: A Three-Wave Longitudinal Study

“…Typhoon Hato led to more than 250 injuries, 10 deaths, and a financial loss of up to 1.42 billion dollars [ 27 ]. The data in the current study is from a longitudinal research program tracking mental health development among Chinese young adults exposed to Typhoon Hato [ 27 , 36 ]. The participants were students recruited at the University of Macau, which was seriously damaged by Typhoon Hato.…”

“…Sample items measuring depressive, anxiety, and stress symptoms are “I couldn’t seem to experience any positive feeling at all,” “I felt I was close to panic,” and “I found it hard to wind down,” respectively. The Chinese version of this scale has good reliability (Cronbach’s alpha is above 0.80 for the overall scale and above 0.90 for the subscales) [ 36 , 40 ]. The data was collected at T1.…”

“…These items were developed from a meta-analysis that summarized risk factor exposure to previous natural disasters [ 42 ]. In this study, the items assessed the following: residence being damaged or flooded, injuries, death of loved ones, being trapped or stranded during the typhoon, witnessing traumatic events happening to others, or almost drowning in the flooding [ 36 ]. Items were summed to assess the extent of direct typhoon exposure, and a higher score represented more severe direct typhoon exposure.…”