An Ecological Approach to Understanding the Stigma Associated with Receiving Mental Health Services: The Role of Social Proximity

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dc.contributor.authorRodgers, Brandon E.en
dc.contributor.committeechairDolbin-MacNab, Megan L.en
dc.contributor.committeememberJohnson, Scott W.en
dc.contributor.committeememberPiercy, Fred P.en
dc.contributor.committeememberGarrison, James E.en
dc.contributor.departmentHuman Developmenten
dc.date.accessioned2014-03-14T20:19:57Zen
dc.date.adate2009-12-22en
dc.date.available2014-03-14T20:19:57Zen
dc.date.issued2009-12-03en
dc.date.rdate2009-12-22en
dc.date.sdate2009-12-07en
dc.description.abstractMental health services suffer the substantial limitation of helping only those who seek their assistance. Previous research has demonstrated that mental health stigma, including social and self-stigma, is one of the most significant barriers to an individual seeking available mental health services. Additionally, low levels of social proximity to mental illness may be a significant factor in increased social and self-stigma. Informed by ecological systems theory, this research examined demographic (i.e., gender, race/ethnicity, university) and social proximity factors (i.e., level of familiarity with mental illness and mental health services) that contributed to the mental health stigma associated with seeking mental health services within a university population. Web-based survey responses from 410 undergraduate students at two universities were obtained. A series of hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that while controlling for gender, race/ethnicity, and university, having personally received mental health services predicted lower levels of mental health self-stigma. Consistent with previous findings, a significant predictive quality of social stigma towards self-stigma was also found. However, none of the models utilizing social proximity factors to predict social stigma were significant. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.en
dc.description.degreePh. D.en
dc.identifier.otheretd-12072009-114821en
dc.identifier.sourceurlhttp://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-12072009-114821/en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/29982en
dc.publisherVirginia Techen
dc.relation.haspartRodgers_BE_D_2009.pdfen
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subjectservice barriersen
dc.subjectmental healthen
dc.subjectstigmaen
dc.titleAn Ecological Approach to Understanding the Stigma Associated with Receiving Mental Health Services: The Role of Social Proximityen
dc.typeDissertationen
thesis.degree.disciplineHuman Developmenten
thesis.degree.grantorVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State Universityen
thesis.degree.leveldoctoralen
thesis.degree.namePh. D.en

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