title: Mental Health Help-Seeking Intentions and Preferences of Rural Chinese Adults.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We aimed to investigate mental health help-seeking intentions and preferences of rural Chinese adults and determine predictors of the intentions.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 2052 representative rural residents aged 18-60 completed a cross-sectional survey by face-to-face interviews. The survey included seven questions asking about respondents' help-seeking intentions and preferences, and a series of internationally validated instruments to assess self-perceived health status, depression, anxiety, alcohol abuse, mental health literacy, and attitudes towards mental illness.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Nearly 80% of respondents were willing to seek psychological help if needed, and 72.4% preferred to get help from medical organizations, yet only 12% knew of any hospitals or clinics providing such help. A multivariate analysis of help-seeking intention revealed that being female, having lower education, higher social health, higher mental health knowledge, and physical causal attribution for depression were positive predictors of help-seeking intention.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A huge gap exists between the relatively higher intention for help-seeking and significantly lower knowledge of helpful resources. Predictors of help-seeking intention for mental problems in the current study are consistent with previous studies. Interventions to increase help-seeking for mental problems by Chinese rural adults may be best served by focusing on increasing public awareness of help sources, as well as improving residents' mental health literacy and social health, with special focus on males and those more educated.
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Medicine and Health Management, School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha City, Hunan Province, China.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Medicine and Health Management, School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha City, Hunan Province, China.
authors.forename: Zi-wei
authors.initials: ZW
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Medicine and Health Management, School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha City, Hunan Province, China.
authors.forename: Mi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Medicine and Health Management, School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha City, Hunan Province, China.
authors.forename: Hui-ming
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America.
authors.forename: Joyce P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Medicine and Health Management, School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha City, Hunan Province, China.
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Medicine and Health Management, School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha City, Hunan Province, China.
authors.forename: Shui-yuan
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Xiao
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002681:China; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D033182:Intention; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D008875:Middle Aged; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000523:psychology*; D057240:Patient Preference / Q000523:psychology*; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055815:Young Adult