Abstract
Objective
Men are less likely than women to engage with formal mental health services for suicidality. We describe the sources of support, barriers to service use, and coping strategies of men with past-year suicidal ideation who are not receiving formal mental health services.
Method
Australian men experiencing past-year suicidal ideation who also did not receive formal mental health services within the past year (n = 176) completed a survey that assessed help-seeking behaviors, coping strategies and styles, use of general services, barriers to service use, and individual-level characteristics. Analyses included descriptive statistics and bivariate analyses.
Results
The most common type of support was self-help resources, and self-reliance was the most common barrier to formal mental health service use. Most participants had seen a GP for non-mental-health-related reasons in the past year. Men who did not seek any help for their suicidality experienced lower instrumental barriers and perceived need for support, and lower levels of certain coping styles. Limitations included a cross-sectional design and small sample size.
Conclusion
The current study provides insight into the help-seeking experiences of men with past-year suicidality and not receiving formal mental health services. The findings suggest it may be helpful to improve the linkage between online and informal sources of support and evidence-based interventions.
HIGHLIGHTS
Online self-help, friends, and partners were the most commonly used sources of help.
A subset of men (42%) with lower perceived need for help did not seek any support.
Despite no past-year formal mental health service use, 80% of the men had seen a GP.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to thank the Under the Radar Core Codesign Team for their contributions to the design of this study. We would also like to thank Ashlee Negrone for her assistance with data cleaning.
DISCLOSURE STATEMENT
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT
Data will be made available upon request. For all data requests, please contact the corresponding author together with the UNSW Human Research Ethics Committee ([email protected]) with the study approval number (HC210447).
Additional information
Funding
Notes on contributors
Natalie M. Reily
Natalie M. Reily, PhD, Samantha Tang, PhD, Bani Aadam, BA, Fiona Shand, PhD, and Jin Han, PhD, Black Dog Institute, Sydney, Australia.
Samantha Tang
Natalie M. Reily, PhD, Samantha Tang, PhD, Bani Aadam, BA, Fiona Shand, PhD, and Jin Han, PhD, Black Dog Institute, Sydney, Australia.
Philip J. Batterham
Philip J. Batterham, PhD, Black Dog Institute, Sydney, Australia and Centre for Mental Health Research, Research School of Population Health, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.
Bani Aadam
Natalie M. Reily, PhD, Samantha Tang, PhD, Bani Aadam, BA, Fiona Shand, PhD, and Jin Han, PhD, Black Dog Institute, Sydney, Australia.
Brian Draper
Brian Draper, MD, Faculty of Medicine and Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
Fiona Shand
Natalie M. Reily, PhD, Samantha Tang, PhD, Bani Aadam, BA, Fiona Shand, PhD, and Jin Han, PhD, Black Dog Institute, Sydney, Australia.
Jin Han
Natalie M. Reily, PhD, Samantha Tang, PhD, Bani Aadam, BA, Fiona Shand, PhD, and Jin Han, PhD, Black Dog Institute, Sydney, Australia.
Angela Nicholas
Angela Nicholas, PhD, Centre for Mental Health, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
Helen Christensen
Helen Christensen, PhD, Black Dog Institute, Sydney, Australia and Faculty of Medicine and Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, Australia.