Predictors of adults' helping intentions and behaviours towards a person with a mental illness: A six-month follow-up study

Rossetto, Alyssia; Jorm, Anthony F.; Reavley, Nicola

doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2016.04.037

Cited by 50 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…This methodology allowed us to include all willing respondents in the survey, regardless of their real‐life exposure to suicide risk. However, the association between confidence and intentions to help with future actions is relatively weak (Rossetto et al., , ), meaning that we cannot assume all positive intentions will result in appropriate action when needed. Sampling of real‐life helping behavior would provide a more accurate understanding of Australians’ approaches to suicide prevention.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Consistent with this theory, Rossetto et al. () showed that intentions and confidence to help a person at risk of suicide were significant predictors of future real‐life helping behavior.…”

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confidence: 87%

“…There are relatively few studies assessing Australians’ abilities to appropriately identify and assist those at risk of suicide (Jorm, Blewitt, Griffiths, Kitchener, & Parslow, ; Rossetto, Jorm, & Reavley, , ). No studies have assessed whether community members intend to respond differently to indirect communications of suicide risk.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…No studies have assessed whether community members intend to respond differently to indirect communications of suicide risk. In existing studies, confidence to help the person at risk was high (Rossetto et al., ), although the quality of intended actions was poor (Rossetto et al., ). Intentions to listen to the person, offer them support, and encourage them to get professional help were relatively common (Jorm, Blewitt, et al., ; Rossetto et al., ), although men were less likely to intend to encourage professional help‐seeking than women (Jorm, Blewitt, et al., ).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Confidence and Intentions to Help a Person at Risk of Suicide

Nicholas

Pirkis

Rossetto

et al. 2019

Suicide & Life Threat Behav

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Objective We aimed to identify Australian adults’ current level of confidence and intentions to help a person close to them in distress or at risk of suicide to inform the content and targeting of suicide prevention messages aimed at family and friends of those at risk. Methods We conducted a nationally representative computer‐assisted telephone survey of confidence and intentions to help someone in distress or at risk of suicide (n = 3,002). We used logistic regression to determine whether sociodemographic and exposure variables predicted confidence and intentions to help. Results Confidence to help was high. About half of the respondents had intentions inconsistent with best practice. Listening and talking, and encouraging the person to seek professional help were the most common types of intended helping actions. Intentions to ask suicide risk assessment questions were least common. Men were more likely than women to have intentions to carry out nonrecommended actions, and less likely to have intentions to carry out recommended actions. Conclusions Suicide prevention messaging aimed at family and friends could encourage them to ask direct questions about suicide risk and could include messages about “what not to do.” Suicide prevention messages aimed specifically at men are indicated.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 87%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Confidence and Intentions to Help a Person at Risk of Suicide

Nicholas

Pirkis

Rossetto

et al. 2019

Suicide & Life Threat Behav

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“…While the Theory of Planned Behaviour [42] supports the examination of helping intentions as a predictor of helping actions, there is evidence for such a relationship [43, 44]. …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Helping intentions of undergraduates towards their depressed peers: a cross-sectional study in Sri Lanka

et al. 2017

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BackgroundDespite showing high rates of depression, university students prefer to seek assistance for their depression from informal sources, such as their friends, rather than seeking professional assistance. Therefore, the helping behaviours of those who provide informal help to these students need examination. This study examines the helping intentions of undergraduates in Sri Lanka towards their depressed peers and the correlates of their helping intentions.MethodThe undergraduates were presented with a vignette of a hypothetical depressed undergraduate. A total of 4442 undergraduates responded to an open-ended question about how the person in the vignette should be helped if this person was someone they knew well. Their responses were coded in reference to established mental health first aid guidelines. Logistic and linear regression models were used to examine the predictors of their helping intentions.ResultsThe undergraduates’ most common helping intentions were to listen/talk and support their peer. Only around a third considered the need for professional help. The overall quality of their helping intentions was poor, but better among those who recognised the problem as depression and those who had less stigmatising attitudes. There was some evidence that certain helping intentions of the undergraduates which were person-oriented or social network-related were better among females, those in higher years of study and among certain non-medical student groups. Intentions to encourage professional help were better among those who recognised the problem, but poorer among those with personal experiences of this problem and among those who perceived this problem to be a weakness and not a sickness.ConclusionsAlthough the undergraduates may attempt to support their distressed peers, they may not show appropriate helping actions and may not encourage the use of professional assistance. Hence, they need to be educated on how best to respond to their distressed peers. Those with higher levels of stigma and inability to recognise the problem may be at greater risk of showing poorer helping responses towards their distressed peers.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12888-017-1192-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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