Help-Seeking Behavior of Individuals With Schizophrenia in the General Population of Hunan, China

Background: This study aims to know the seeking help behavior (including seeking help or not, first choice, influential factors and barriers in seeking help) of individuals with SZ (Schizophrenia) in Hunan province of China. Methods: The participants are from a larger epidemiological study of severe mental disorders in Hunan province of China. Self-made questionnaires were used to collect relative information. Results: (1) Of the 367 participants, 68.9% (253/367) sought help; of those, 64.6% (n=163) pursued professional psychiatric services and 30.8% (n=78) pursued non-medical options (i.e., relatives, praying to Buddha) as the most common first choices. (2) The help-seeking behavior ratio (seeking help individuals/total sample size) is significantly lower in the illiterate group than in other education levels. Those with a family history of mental disorders tend to have a higher help-seeking behavior ratio. And the first choice of help is largely related to education level. (3) Frequent reasons behind not seeking help include fear of stigmatization (72.9%), poor mental health literacy (64.5%), concerns over cost (50.6%), and limited access to medical services (47.0%). Conclusions: About one third of the individuals do not seek help. Individuals with SZ tend to choose psychiatric hospital and relatives as their first choice. A family history of mental disorders and higher education levels are meaningfully associated with help-seeking behavior, and individuals with more education tend to seek for professional help first. The primary reasons for not seeking help include fear of stigmatization, lack of awareness about mental illness, concerns over cost, etc Trial registration This study is approved by ‘the ethics committee of the Brain Hospital of Hunan Province’,the committee’s reference numberis ‘Z2019045’.