Publication: Stigma and psychological help seeking attitude among nurses: The moderating role of self-compassion
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Date
2022
Authors
Mohammad, Ifyani Hazirah
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Abstract
Stigma has been a major barrier for people with mental health issues or mental disorder to seek for psychological help as treatment. The reluctance to seek help may be quite prevalent among healthcare workers including nurses, such as the stigma that they may look weak if they seek help due to the nature of their work that provides care for others. There has been no study thus far that has investigated self-compassion in nurses in Malaysia in which self-compassion may play a role to improve help-seeking attitudes. This study aims to investigate the correlation (1) between public stigma and self-stigma of seeking help, (2) between self-stigma and attitude towards seeking psychological help, and (3) between self-compassion and self-stigma, and (4) the role of self-compassion as a moderator between self-stigma and public stigma that is expected to improve psychological help-seeking attitude among a nursing sample in Kubang Kerian, Kelantan, Malaysia. The study was conducted among 102 nurses in Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia who completed self-reported questionnaire Stigma Scale for Receiving Psychological Help (SSRPH), Self-Stigma of Seeking Help (SSOSH), Mental Help Seeking Attitude (MHSAS) and Self-Compassion Scale (SCS). Results revealed statistically significant positive correlation between public stigma and self-stigma, negative correlation between self-stigma and attitude towards seeking psychological help, and negative correlation between self-compassion and self-stigma. Moderation analysis for the relationship between public stigma and self-stigma however was not significant. The findings supported the theory that explains the relationship between public stigma, self-stigma, and attitude towards seeking psychological help, although not for self-compassion as a moderator. This study fills in the knowledge gap relating to help-seeking attitude of nurses in a local Malaysian context and may become a reference for future mental health campaigns relating to stigma among nurses to improve help-seeking attitude
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Keywords
Help-seeking behaviour , stigma