Yousaf, O. and Grunfeld, Elizabeth and Hunter, M.S. (2015) A systematic review of the factors associated with delays in medical and psychological help-seeking among men. Health Psychology Review 9 (2), pp. 264-276. ISSN 1743-7199.
Abstract
Despite a growing literature on the factors associated with men's low rates of medical and psychological help-seeking, a systematic review of these is missing. Such an overview can help to inform health psychologists of the barriers to the performance of adaptive health behaviours, such as prompt help-seeking, and could inform theoretical advancements and the development of targeted interventions to facilitate prompt help-seeking among men. We systematically reviewed quantitative and qualitative empirical papers on factors associated with delays in men's medical and psychological help-seeking. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines were followed, and we used the databases PsycINFO, Medline, Embase and PsycARTICLES (with keywords: men/male*/gender*, help*/seek* and health*/service*/utili*[sation]) for papers in English. 41 citations (amounting to 21,787 participants aged 15–80 + ) met the inclusion criteria. Approximately half of these used qualitative methodologies (i.e., semi-structured interviews and focus groups), while half used quantitative methodologies (i.e., questionnaires). We identify a number of recurring cognitive, emotional, health-service related and socio-demographic help-seeking factors/predictors from the 41 papers. Of these, the most prominent barriers to help-seeking were disinclination to express emotions/concerns about health, embarrassment, anxiety and fear, and poor communication with health-care professionals.
Metadata
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Keyword(s) / Subject(s): | help-seeking, men, barriers, systematic review, service utilisation, delay |
| School: | Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Science > School of Psychological Sciences |
| Depositing User: | Administrator |
| Date Deposited: | 05 Oct 2017 10:28 |
| Last Modified: | 02 Aug 2023 17:35 |
| URI: | https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/19914 |
Statistics
Additional statistics are available via IRStats2.
Archive Staff Only (login required)
