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Radez, Jerica, Reardon, Tessa, Creswell, Cathy, Orchard, Faith 
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5324-5007 and Waite, Polly
(2022)
Adolescents’ perceived barriers and facilitators to seeking and accessing professional help for anxiety and depressive disorders: a qualitative interview study.
European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 31 (6).
pp. 891-907.
ISSN 1018-8827
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Abstract
Anxiety and depressive disorders are the most common mental health disorders in adolescents, yet only a minority of young people with these disorders access professional help. This study aims to address this treatment gap by improving our understanding of barriers and facilitators to seeking/accessing professional help as perceived by adolescents with anxiety/depressive disorders identified in the community. Twenty-two adolescents, aged 11–17 years, who met diagnostic criteria for a current anxiety and/or depressive disorder were identified through school-based screening. In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted one-to-one with each adolescent and adolescents’ parents were interviewed separately for the purpose of data triangulation. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. We identified four themes capturing adolescent perceived barriers and facilitators to seeking/accessing professional help for anxiety and depressive disorders: (1) making sense of difficulties, (2) problem disclosure, (3) ambivalence to seeking help, and (4) the instrumental role of others. Barriers/facilitators identified within each theme reflect important developmental characteristics of adolescence, such as a growing need for autonomy and concerns around negative social evaluation. At the same time, the results highlight adolescents’ dependency on other people, mainly their parents and school staff, when it comes to successfully accessing professional help for their mental health difficulties. This study identifies a number of barriers/facilitators that influence help-seeking behaviour of adolescents with anxiety and/or depressive disorders. These factors need to be addressed when targeting treatment utilisation rates in this particular group of young people.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | Funding Information: JR was funded by the University of Reading through an Anniversary PhD Scholarship. CC and TR were funded by an NIHR Research Professorship awarded to CC (RP_2014-04-018). PW is supported by an NIHR Post-Doctoral Fellowship (PDF-2016-09-092). The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health. The authors would like to thank participating schools and families for their help. The authors would also like to thank Prof Kate Harvey of the University of Reading for her advice on qualitative research methods. |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | access,adolescence,anxiety disorders,barriers,depressive disorders,help-seeking,pediatrics, perinatology, and child health,developmental and educational psychology,psychiatry and mental health,sdg 3 - good health and well-being,3* ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2700/2735 |
| Faculty \ School: | Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Psychology |
| Related URLs: | |
| Depositing User: | LivePure Connector |
| Date Deposited: | 22 Aug 2024 09:30 |
| Last Modified: | 22 Oct 2024 08:30 |
| URI: | https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/96306 |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s00787-020-01707-0 |
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