Gray, Brittney A. C. and Pierce, Thomas W. and Barfield, Stirling M. and Tsai, Pei-Chun WHERE LITERACY AND STIGMA MEET: BARRIERS TO MENTAL HEALTH HELP-SEEKING FOR APPALACIAN WOMEN. 2023. Radford University, Dissertation. Radford University Scholars' Repository.
 |
PDF
Download (1MB) |
Abstract
Appalachian women face some of the most pervasive health disparities and poverty rates in the United States. Barriers to help-seeking such as accessibility, affordability, stigma, and low mental health literacy negatively impact Appalachian women’s ability and willingness to seek mental healthcare services when distressed. This project tested the degree to which mental health literacy moderates the relationship between perceived stigma of help-seeking and willingness to seek mental health services in a sample of 461 Appalachian women. Logistic regression was used to predict willingness to seek mental health services from predictor variables of stigma, mental health literacy, and the moderation effect. The moderation effect was not significant, indicating that the strength of the relationship between perceived mental health stigma and willingness to seek treatment does not vary as a function of mental health literacy. The main effect of mental health stigma was significant, with lower levels of mental health stigma associated with a greater willingness to seek mental health services. The main effect of mental health literacy was not significant. Overall, the results highlight the importance of continued efforts to reduce stigma and normalize help-seeking for mental health concerns in the region.
| Item Type: | Dissertation |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Appalachia, women, stigma, mental health literacy, mental health help-seeking, rurality |
| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) |
| Divisions: | Radford University > College of Humanities and Behavioral Sciences > Department of Psychology |
| Date Deposited: | 02 Aug 2023 00:59 |
| Last Modified: | 02 Aug 2023 00:59 |
| URI: | http://wagner.radford.edu/id/eprint/1017 |
Administrative Actions
 |
View Item |
