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Psychosis and help-seeking behaviour–a systematic review of the literature

Psychosis and help-seeking behaviour–a systematic review of the literature
Psychosis and help-seeking behaviour–a systematic review of the literature

Purpose: many people with psychosis do not seek help which delays access to recommended treatments. Duration of untreated psychosis is associated with poor healthcare outcomes and increased risk of relapse. The reasons why people delay accessing treatment remain unclear. This is the first systematic review to synthesise the literature examining professional and non-professional help-seeking in psychosis across clinical and subclinical populations. 

Methods: we searched four databases (APA PsycINFO, APA PsycArticles, Medline and British Library EThOS) to generate a comprehensive account of the quantitative literature. Heterogeneity of measures precluded a meta-analysis. 

Results: we identified 19 articles (including 9686 participants) that met criteria for the review. Help-seeking in psychosis is associated with being female, having a higher level of education, and experiencing more than one symptom. People with psychosis report stigma, poor mental health literacy and lack of family support as key barriers. Clinicians report childhood physical abuse, insecure attachment and severity of psychosis as additional barriers. We also found differences in preferred sources of help across cultures. There is currently no consensus on reliable help-seeking measures. 

Conclusions: this is the first systematic review to examine help-seeking behaviour in psychosis. Assertive and culturally sensitive engagement efforts should be targeted towards people with a history of early adversity, poor mental health literacy, limited social support and more severe psychosis.

DUP, adversity, attachment, help-seeking, literacy, psychosis, public health, schizophrenia, service engagement, stigma, support-seeking
1476-0835
583-605
Skrobinska, Laura
4f905b58-4693-4d62-8d50-437b3929580f
Newman-Taylor, Katherine
e090b9da-6ede-45d5-8a56-2e86c2dafef7
Carnelley, Kathy
02a55020-a0bc-480e-a0ff-c8fe56ee9c36
Skrobinska, Laura
4f905b58-4693-4d62-8d50-437b3929580f
Newman-Taylor, Katherine
e090b9da-6ede-45d5-8a56-2e86c2dafef7
Carnelley, Kathy
02a55020-a0bc-480e-a0ff-c8fe56ee9c36

Skrobinska, Laura, Newman-Taylor, Katherine and Carnelley, Kathy (2024) Psychosis and help-seeking behaviour–a systematic review of the literature. Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 97 (4), 583-605. (doi:10.1111/papt.12531).

Record type: Review

Abstract

Purpose: many people with psychosis do not seek help which delays access to recommended treatments. Duration of untreated psychosis is associated with poor healthcare outcomes and increased risk of relapse. The reasons why people delay accessing treatment remain unclear. This is the first systematic review to synthesise the literature examining professional and non-professional help-seeking in psychosis across clinical and subclinical populations. 

Methods: we searched four databases (APA PsycINFO, APA PsycArticles, Medline and British Library EThOS) to generate a comprehensive account of the quantitative literature. Heterogeneity of measures precluded a meta-analysis. 

Results: we identified 19 articles (including 9686 participants) that met criteria for the review. Help-seeking in psychosis is associated with being female, having a higher level of education, and experiencing more than one symptom. People with psychosis report stigma, poor mental health literacy and lack of family support as key barriers. Clinicians report childhood physical abuse, insecure attachment and severity of psychosis as additional barriers. We also found differences in preferred sources of help across cultures. There is currently no consensus on reliable help-seeking measures. 

Conclusions: this is the first systematic review to examine help-seeking behaviour in psychosis. Assertive and culturally sensitive engagement efforts should be targeted towards people with a history of early adversity, poor mental health literacy, limited social support and more severe psychosis.

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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 6 May 2024
e-pub ahead of print date: 15 July 2024
Keywords: DUP, adversity, attachment, help-seeking, literacy, psychosis, public health, schizophrenia, service engagement, stigma, support-seeking

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 492495
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/492495
ISSN: 1476-0835
PURE UUID: 47052da8-873a-4f25-b46e-170f7603e2e6
ORCID for Katherine Newman-Taylor: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-1579-7959
ORCID for Kathy Carnelley: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-4064-8576

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 30 Jul 2024 16:33
Last modified: 20 Nov 2024 02:59

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Contributors

Author: Laura Skrobinska
Author: Kathy Carnelley ORCID iD

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