Predictors of psychological help -seeking attitudes, willingness toward psychological service utilization, and levels of previous psychological service utilization among Orthodox Jewish parents
Item
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Title
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Predictors of psychological help -seeking attitudes, willingness toward psychological service utilization, and levels of previous psychological service utilization among Orthodox Jewish parents
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Identifier
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d_2009_2013:853c4bd84365:10243
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identifier
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10275
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Creator
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Tepfer, Binyamin,
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Contributor
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Marian C. Fish
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Date
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2009
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Social psychology | Judaic studies | Attitudes | Counseling | Orthodox Jews | Service Utilization | Stigma
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Abstract
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The current study explores factors that predict levels of attitude toward psychological help-seeking, intention of utilizing psychological services, and levels of previous psychological service utilization among Orthodox Jewish parents. Attitude levels were measured using the Attitudes toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help Scale (ATSPPH), developed by Fisher and Farina (1995). Level of intention was measured by the Intention of Seeking Counseling Inventory (ISCI) (Cash et al., 1975). Predictor factors included in the study were gender, level of education, group affiliation within Orthodox Judaism, level of social stigma measured by the Stigma Scale for Receiving Psychological Help (SSRPH) (Komiya, Good & Sherrod, 2000), and scores on the Openness toward Western Values Scale (OWVS), a scale developed in the current study. Participants included 157 Orthodox Jews from various Orthodox Jewish communities across New York State. Logistic regression, multiple regression, and correlations were used to analyze the data. The current study found that scores on the Attitudes toward Seeking Professional Help Scale (ATSPPH), the Intention of Seeking Counseling Inventory (ISCI), and levels of previous treatment utilization were all positively correlated with each other. In addition, various demographic factors were important in predicting attitude levels, intention levels, and whether previous treatment was sought. Attitude, group affiliation, and level of openness toward Western values were all significantly predictive of previous treatment levels. Those with lower attitude levels, self-affiliated with more insular and less acculturated Orthodox Jewish subgroups, as well as those who scored lower on the openness toward Western values scale, tended to have significantly lower levels of previous mental health treatment utilization. Levels of stigma toward seeking psychological help were predictive of levels of intentions to seek counseling, but not of levels of attitude or levels of previous treatment utilization. Those with higher levels of stigma tended to have lower levels of intentions to seek counseling. In addition, gender was significantly correlated with level of attitudes toward help-seeking. Women tended to have more positive attitudes than men. Within the construct of attitudes, the level of attitude that parents had toward seeking psychological help for themselves was found to correlate positively with attitudes levels they had for seeking psychological help for their children. These findings are important in providing insight and understanding in psychological help-seeking behaviors and attitudes among Orthodox Jews, a population not previously researched. Schools and mental health clinics that serve this population need to understand potential causes of initial resistance to treatment, as well as low treatment utilization levels from a socio-cultural perspective. Appropriate interventions to increase utilization levels should be formulated and implemented addressing the underlying causes of resistance to treatment.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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2009_2013.csv
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Educational Psychology
