@article{ref1,
title="Chinese university students' perspectives on help-seeking and mental health counseling",
journal="International journal of environmental research and public health",
year="2022",
author="Ning, Xuan and Wong, Pui-Hing and Huang, Silang and Fu, Yina and Gong, Xiaojie and Zhang, Lizeng and Hilario, Carla and Fung, Po-Lun and Yu, Miao and Poon, Kwong-Lai and Cheng, Shengli and Gao, Jianguo and Jia, Cun-xian",
volume="19",
number="14",
pages="e8259-e8259",
abstract="Psychological distress and mental illness have become increasingly pervasive among Chinese university students. However, many university students who need mental health treatment or psychological support do not actively seek help from professional counselors or service providers, which could lead to poor mental health outcomes. To promote help-seeking, we undertook a qualitative study to understand Chinese university students' perspectives on help-seeking and mental health counseling. We conducted 13 focus group interviews with students in six universities in Jinan, China, and altogether 91 (62%) female students, and 56 (38%) male students participated in the study. Our results indicate that students' misconception and distrust of on-campus counseling, stigma of mental illness, low mental health literacy, and hard-to-access mental health services are the major barriers that impede students help-seeking behaviors. Internal struggles and systematic and organizational barriers are identified to shed light on future work to promote mental health literacy among Chinese university students.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1661-7827",
doi="10.3390/ijerph19148259",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19148259"
}