Factors that Contribute to Attitudes Towards Professional Psychological Help Seeking for Mental Health Issues Among Teacher Trainees in Kenya

Eunice Jemalel Nyavanga

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ajap.20170606.11

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Factors that Contribute to Attitudes Towards Professional Psychological Help Seeking for Mental Health Issues Among Teacher Trainees in Kenya

Eunice Jemalel Nyavanga

Published in American Journal of Applied Psychology (Volume 6, Issue 6)

Received: 20 June 2017 Accepted: 31 August 2017 Published: 28 October 2017

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Abstract

Mental illness including substance abuse disorders is a major concern among college student population, yet nearly half of them have no knowledge on mental health issues. In addition more than half of these students report not to have received any information on mental health or sought any help for a mental illness, causing a great magnitude of health burden. This study aims to determine factors that contribute to attitudes towards professional psychological help seeking for a mental illness. Four colleges out of the existing 20 public primary teacher colleges were conveniently sampled, and all present consenting students were recruited for the study. Two colleges formed the experimental group while the other two formed the experimental group. Baseline assessment using researcher developed demographic questionnaire, with three standardized tools of opinions about mental illness, attitudes towards professional help seeking and expectations about counseling were used to collect data. Psychoeducation was given to the experimental group, and three other evaluations using the same tools were done, one soon after the psychoeducation, third and fourth three and six months after the psychoeducation, The control group only received two other evaluations, soon after baseline and three months after baseline. This study found out that opinions about mental illness, expectations about counseling, psychoeducation, experience in teaching before coming to collage and being female gender contribute significantly to attitudes towards professional psychological help seeking for a mental illness. Main recommendation made is to include mental health education and counseling in teacher training curriculum to improve attitudes to seeking help.

Published in	American Journal of Applied Psychology (Volume 6, Issue 6)
DOI	10.11648/j.ajap.20170606.11
Page(s)	142-146
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Attitudes, Teacher Trainees, Mental Health, Opinions, Expectations

References

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Eunice Jemalel Nyavanga. (2017). Factors that Contribute to Attitudes Towards Professional Psychological Help Seeking for Mental Health Issues Among Teacher Trainees in Kenya. American Journal of Applied Psychology, 6(6), 142-146. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajap.20170606.11

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Eunice Jemalel Nyavanga. Factors that Contribute to Attitudes Towards Professional Psychological Help Seeking for Mental Health Issues Among Teacher Trainees in Kenya. Am. J. Appl. Psychol. 2017, 6(6), 142-146. doi: 10.11648/j.ajap.20170606.11

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AMA Style

Eunice Jemalel Nyavanga. Factors that Contribute to Attitudes Towards Professional Psychological Help Seeking for Mental Health Issues Among Teacher Trainees in Kenya. Am J Appl Psychol. 2017;6(6):142-146. doi: 10.11648/j.ajap.20170606.11

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@article{10.11648/j.ajap.20170606.11,
  author = {Eunice Jemalel Nyavanga},
  title = {Factors that Contribute to Attitudes Towards Professional Psychological Help Seeking for Mental Health Issues Among Teacher Trainees in Kenya},
  journal = {American Journal of Applied Psychology},
  volume = {6},
  number = {6},
  pages = {142-146},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ajap.20170606.11},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajap.20170606.11},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajap.20170606.11},
  abstract = {Mental illness including substance abuse disorders is a major concern among college student population, yet nearly half of them have no knowledge on mental health issues. In addition more than half of these students report not to have received any information on mental health or sought any help for a mental illness, causing a great magnitude of health burden. This study aims to determine factors that contribute to attitudes towards professional psychological help seeking for a mental illness. Four colleges out of the existing 20 public primary teacher colleges were conveniently sampled, and all present consenting students were recruited for the study. Two colleges formed the experimental group while the other two formed the experimental group. Baseline assessment using researcher developed demographic questionnaire, with three standardized tools of opinions about mental illness, attitudes towards professional help seeking and expectations about counseling were used to collect data. Psychoeducation was given to the experimental group, and three other evaluations using the same tools were done, one soon after the psychoeducation, third and fourth three and six months after the psychoeducation, The control group only received two other evaluations, soon after baseline and three months after baseline. This study found out that opinions about mental illness, expectations about counseling, psychoeducation, experience in teaching before coming to collage and being female gender contribute significantly to attitudes towards professional psychological help seeking for a mental illness. Main recommendation made is to include mental health education and counseling in teacher training curriculum to improve attitudes to seeking help.},
 year = {2017}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Factors that Contribute to Attitudes Towards Professional Psychological Help Seeking for Mental Health Issues Among Teacher Trainees in Kenya
AU  - Eunice Jemalel Nyavanga
Y1  - 2017/10/28
PY  - 2017
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajap.20170606.11
DO  - 10.11648/j.ajap.20170606.11
T2  - American Journal of Applied Psychology
JF  - American Journal of Applied Psychology
JO  - American Journal of Applied Psychology
SP  - 142
EP  - 146
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2328-5672
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajap.20170606.11
AB  - Mental illness including substance abuse disorders is a major concern among college student population, yet nearly half of them have no knowledge on mental health issues. In addition more than half of these students report not to have received any information on mental health or sought any help for a mental illness, causing a great magnitude of health burden. This study aims to determine factors that contribute to attitudes towards professional psychological help seeking for a mental illness. Four colleges out of the existing 20 public primary teacher colleges were conveniently sampled, and all present consenting students were recruited for the study. Two colleges formed the experimental group while the other two formed the experimental group. Baseline assessment using researcher developed demographic questionnaire, with three standardized tools of opinions about mental illness, attitudes towards professional help seeking and expectations about counseling were used to collect data. Psychoeducation was given to the experimental group, and three other evaluations using the same tools were done, one soon after the psychoeducation, third and fourth three and six months after the psychoeducation, The control group only received two other evaluations, soon after baseline and three months after baseline. This study found out that opinions about mental illness, expectations about counseling, psychoeducation, experience in teaching before coming to collage and being female gender contribute significantly to attitudes towards professional psychological help seeking for a mental illness. Main recommendation made is to include mental health education and counseling in teacher training curriculum to improve attitudes to seeking help.
VL  - 6
IS  - 6
ER  -

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Author Information

Eunice Jemalel Nyavanga

Department of Social and Human Development, Faculty of Social Sciences and Technology, The Technical University of Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya; Malel-Bibwob Clinical Psychologists Consultancy Limited, Nairobi, Kenya

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APA Style

Eunice Jemalel Nyavanga. (2017). Factors that Contribute to Attitudes Towards Professional Psychological Help Seeking for Mental Health Issues Among Teacher Trainees in Kenya. American Journal of Applied Psychology, 6(6), 142-146. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajap.20170606.11

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ACS Style

Eunice Jemalel Nyavanga. Factors that Contribute to Attitudes Towards Professional Psychological Help Seeking for Mental Health Issues Among Teacher Trainees in Kenya. Am. J. Appl. Psychol. 2017, 6(6), 142-146. doi: 10.11648/j.ajap.20170606.11

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AMA Style

Eunice Jemalel Nyavanga. Factors that Contribute to Attitudes Towards Professional Psychological Help Seeking for Mental Health Issues Among Teacher Trainees in Kenya. Am J Appl Psychol. 2017;6(6):142-146. doi: 10.11648/j.ajap.20170606.11

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@article{10.11648/j.ajap.20170606.11,
  author = {Eunice Jemalel Nyavanga},
  title = {Factors that Contribute to Attitudes Towards Professional Psychological Help Seeking for Mental Health Issues Among Teacher Trainees in Kenya},
  journal = {American Journal of Applied Psychology},
  volume = {6},
  number = {6},
  pages = {142-146},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ajap.20170606.11},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajap.20170606.11},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajap.20170606.11},
  abstract = {Mental illness including substance abuse disorders is a major concern among college student population, yet nearly half of them have no knowledge on mental health issues. In addition more than half of these students report not to have received any information on mental health or sought any help for a mental illness, causing a great magnitude of health burden. This study aims to determine factors that contribute to attitudes towards professional psychological help seeking for a mental illness. Four colleges out of the existing 20 public primary teacher colleges were conveniently sampled, and all present consenting students were recruited for the study. Two colleges formed the experimental group while the other two formed the experimental group. Baseline assessment using researcher developed demographic questionnaire, with three standardized tools of opinions about mental illness, attitudes towards professional help seeking and expectations about counseling were used to collect data. Psychoeducation was given to the experimental group, and three other evaluations using the same tools were done, one soon after the psychoeducation, third and fourth three and six months after the psychoeducation, The control group only received two other evaluations, soon after baseline and three months after baseline. This study found out that opinions about mental illness, expectations about counseling, psychoeducation, experience in teaching before coming to collage and being female gender contribute significantly to attitudes towards professional psychological help seeking for a mental illness. Main recommendation made is to include mental health education and counseling in teacher training curriculum to improve attitudes to seeking help.},
 year = {2017}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Factors that Contribute to Attitudes Towards Professional Psychological Help Seeking for Mental Health Issues Among Teacher Trainees in Kenya
AU  - Eunice Jemalel Nyavanga
Y1  - 2017/10/28
PY  - 2017
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajap.20170606.11
DO  - 10.11648/j.ajap.20170606.11
T2  - American Journal of Applied Psychology
JF  - American Journal of Applied Psychology
JO  - American Journal of Applied Psychology
SP  - 142
EP  - 146
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2328-5672
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajap.20170606.11
AB  - Mental illness including substance abuse disorders is a major concern among college student population, yet nearly half of them have no knowledge on mental health issues. In addition more than half of these students report not to have received any information on mental health or sought any help for a mental illness, causing a great magnitude of health burden. This study aims to determine factors that contribute to attitudes towards professional psychological help seeking for a mental illness. Four colleges out of the existing 20 public primary teacher colleges were conveniently sampled, and all present consenting students were recruited for the study. Two colleges formed the experimental group while the other two formed the experimental group. Baseline assessment using researcher developed demographic questionnaire, with three standardized tools of opinions about mental illness, attitudes towards professional help seeking and expectations about counseling were used to collect data. Psychoeducation was given to the experimental group, and three other evaluations using the same tools were done, one soon after the psychoeducation, third and fourth three and six months after the psychoeducation, The control group only received two other evaluations, soon after baseline and three months after baseline. This study found out that opinions about mental illness, expectations about counseling, psychoeducation, experience in teaching before coming to collage and being female gender contribute significantly to attitudes towards professional psychological help seeking for a mental illness. Main recommendation made is to include mental health education and counseling in teacher training curriculum to improve attitudes to seeking help.
VL  - 6
IS  - 6
ER  -

Copy | Download