Variables Associated with Parental Attitudes towards Mental Health Services for their Children

Abstract

A number of studies have investigated the barriers that could hinder children and adolescents from accessing and benefiting from mental health services. Only a few studies have been conducted in the Arab world and in Lebanon specifically. Most studies did not evaluate the contribution of openness to experience with attitudes towards mental help seeking, nor did they distinguish between the different types of stigma. Based on the perceived gaps in the scientific literature, this thesis aims to identify the possible variables that might be associated with parents’ attitudes towards seeking mental health services for their children. To pursue these objectives, we recruited 243 parents of children and adolescents between the ages of 1.5 and 18 years in Lebanon. Participants were asked to complete several questionnaires online. These questionnaires allowed us to evaluate the association between sociodemographic factors, parental recognition of mental health problems, stigma, openness to experience and confidence in mental health professionals and parental help-seeking attitudes. To pursue the stated objectives, we ran descriptive, correlation and regression analyses on the collected dataset. Results showed that public stigma, parents’ internalized stigma, treatment stigma, openness to experience, health insurance availability, parental income and confidence in mental health professionals were significantly associated with parental attitudes towards mental health services. These results of the study point to various ways of reducing the treatment gap in Lebanon.