title: A systematic review of the factors associated with delays in medical and psychological help-seeking among men.
abstract: Despite a growing literature on the factors associated with men's low rates of medical and psychological help-seeking, a systematic review of these is missing. Such an overview can help to inform health psychologists of the barriers to the performance of adaptive health behaviours, such as prompt help-seeking, and could inform theoretical advancements and the development of targeted interventions to facilitate prompt help-seeking among men. We systematically reviewed quantitative and qualitative empirical papers on factors associated with delays in men's medical and psychological help-seeking. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines were followed, and we used the databases PsycINFO, Medline, Embase and PsycARTICLES (with keywords: men/male*/gender*, help*/seek* and health*/service*/utili*[sation]) for papers in English. 41 citations (amounting to 21,787 participants aged 15-80 + ) met the inclusion criteria. Approximately half of these used qualitative methodologies (i.e., semi-structured interviews and focus groups), while half used quantitative methodologies (i.e., questionnaires). We identify a number of recurring cognitive, emotional, health-service related and socio-demographic help-seeking factors/predictors from the 41 papers. Of these, the most prominent barriers to help-seeking were disinclination to express emotions/concerns about health, embarrassment, anxiety and fear, and poor communication with health-care professionals.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London , Guy's Campus, London SE19RT , UK.
authors.forename: Omar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Yousaf
authors.forename: Elizabeth A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Grunfeld
authors.forename: Myra S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Hunter
mesh_terms: D001294:Attitude to Health; D003142:Communication; D004644:Emotions; D000066505:Help-Seeking Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000523:psychology*; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011613:Psychotherapy; D012737:Sex Factors; D013997:Time Factors
keywords: barriers; delay; help-seeking; men; service utilisation; systematic review