TY - JOUR
T1 - Adolescents’ views on seeking help for emotional and behavioral problems
T2 - A focus group study
AU - van den Toren, S.J.
AU - van Grieken, A.
AU - Lugtenberg, M.
AU - Boelens, M.
AU - Raat, H.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2020/1
Y1 - 2020/1
N2 - This study aimed to get insight into adolescents’ views on help-seeking for emotional and behavioral problems. Fourteen focus groups were conducted. Two vignettes, depicting one healthy adolescent with few issues and one adolescent with severe psychosocial problems, were used to structure the focus groups. The focus groups were framed within a youth help-seeking model. Adolescents (mean age of 15.0 years) generally reported seeking help from friends or the internet for mild issues and from a person they trust like a parent or school mentor, for more severe problems. Adolescents correctly recognized the issues in vignette one as surmountable and the problems in vignette two as severe. A bond of trust with a help source was regarded as the main facilitator for the decision to seek help. Adolescents reported a preference for help sources who clearly displayed their expertise for the issue at hand and for informal help-sources, particularly friends.
AB - This study aimed to get insight into adolescents’ views on help-seeking for emotional and behavioral problems. Fourteen focus groups were conducted. Two vignettes, depicting one healthy adolescent with few issues and one adolescent with severe psychosocial problems, were used to structure the focus groups. The focus groups were framed within a youth help-seeking model. Adolescents (mean age of 15.0 years) generally reported seeking help from friends or the internet for mild issues and from a person they trust like a parent or school mentor, for more severe problems. Adolescents correctly recognized the issues in vignette one as surmountable and the problems in vignette two as severe. A bond of trust with a help source was regarded as the main facilitator for the decision to seek help. Adolescents reported a preference for help sources who clearly displayed their expertise for the issue at hand and for informal help-sources, particularly friends.
KW - Adolescence
KW - Barriers and facilitators to help-seeking
KW - Emotional and behavioral help-seeking behavior
KW - Help sources
KW - Internet help-seeking
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85077470914&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/ijerph17010191
DO - 10.3390/ijerph17010191
M3 - Article
C2 - 31892118
AN - SCOPUS:85077470914
SN - 1661-7827
VL - 17
JO - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
JF - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
IS - 1
M1 - 191
ER -