Factors that influence seeking professional help among a sample of undergraduate students in Kuwait University

Abstract EN

Individuals’ attitudes toward seeking professional help are among the important subjects that have been studied in the field of social work.

The purpose of this quantitative study was to conduct a cross-sectional survey to (a) explore the participants’ thoughts about consulting a specialist and their preferences regarding seeking the help of friends and family and (b) identify the factors that may be related to belief in the expertness of specialists, intent to seek help from specialists, and stigma tolerance.

A total of N = 600 students in Kuwait University participated in this study.

The results showed that there was a significant association between the thinking about consulting a specialist and the age in group A.

There was a significant association between participants’ preferences regarding seeking the help of friends and family and nationality in group A but not in group B.

In group A, the male participants expressed significantly lower belief in the expertness of psychologists than the female participants.

The males reported greater intent to seek the help of a psychologist than the females.

The males also had lower stigma tolerance than the females.

The mean scores for expertness, intent, and stigma tolerance did not vary significantly in terms of gender in group B.

The students in groups A and B who thought of consulting had significantly greater belief in their expertness, had greater intent to consult a specialist and had higher stigma tolerance in comparison to the students who did not think of consulting a specialist.