Canadian Men's Perspectives of Depression: Awareness and Intention to Seek Help.
It is often presumed that men are generally unaware of depression being a serious health issue and are unlikely to seek professional help if they became depressed. To test this presumption, Canadian men's ( N = 452) perspectives regarding awareness of depression and likelihood of seeking help for depression were solicited. While 78.7% of respondents recognized depression as a significant health issue for men, only 58.5% felt fairly or very well informed about depression. In terms of help-seeking intentions, 82.6% of respondents indicated that they probably or definitely would seek professional help if depressed. Contrary to popular depictions, the findings suggest that Canadian men are indeed aware of the seriousness of depression as a health issue, yet many are poorly informed about it. Furthermore, most men are well intentioned when it comes to seeking help if they became depressed. The findings imply that greater efforts are required to improve men's understanding of depression (symptoms, triggers, approaches to care), which may help translate intentions to seek help into concrete action.
1 University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
John S
JS
Ogrodniczuk
1 University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
John L
JL
Oliffe
2 Intensions Consulting, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Nick
N
Black
D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002170:Canada; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods; D000066505:Help-Seeking Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D057228:Masculinity; D008875:Middle Aged; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012944:Social Support; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
depression; mental health; men’s health interventions
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