HELP-SEEKING BEHAVIORS OF JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

Adolescents who are in Junior High School represent an important population in which the study of mental help-seeking and utilization of mental health care services is vital. Understanding the factors that leads to the utilization and underutilization of mental health care will help enhance efforts to make it more accessible, understand the barriers to mental help-seeking and utilization and reach a wider scope of population. To quantify mental health seeking behavior and barriers that affects mental health services utilization, this study was conducted among 128 Junior High School students using standardized survey questionnaire Mental Help-Seeking Attitude Scale (MHSAS) by Dr. Joseph Hammer and Barriers to Mental Health Services-Revised (BMHSR) by Dr. Renee Pepin. Of the 128 respondents of this study, overall attitudes toward mental help-seeking was found to be positive which means that the respondents generally have a positive view of seeking help from a mental health professional. However, findings revealed that barriers among which affected the utilization of mental health services were the view that depressive symptoms are normal, a negative view towards mental health professional and help-seeking, and concerns relating to psychotherapy. Findings of this study could be bases for implementing initiatives to improve access and utilization of mental health services offered by the school through the Guidance Center.