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

European Journal of Psychotraumatology

Wei Shi & Brian J. Hall

https://doi.org/10.1080/20008198.2020.1761621

Background: Direct exposure to natural disasters is associated with increased mental disorders. Help-seeking behavior 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-centered approach, this study describes help-seekingpreferences 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: A total of 815 students (females=71.5%) who completed baseline (Sep. 21st –Dec. 6th, 2017) and 6-month follow-up (April 3rd - May 3rd, 2018) were included in the data analysis. Latent Class Analysis (LCA) and Multinomial Logistic Regression were used to analyze the data via Mplus 7.4 and STATA 14.0.

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 behavior, 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.

Keywords: help seeking; Chinese; Natural Disaster

Received 02 Jan 2020, Accepted 01 Apr 2020, Published online: 04 Jun 2020