EXPLORING ONLINE MENTAL HEALTH RELATED HELP-SEEKING BEHAVIOR OF PSYCHIATRIC PATIENTS & ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING AND QUALITY OF LIFE
Main Article Content
Keywords
Stress, Anxiety, Depression, Quality of life, Psychological Well-Being
Abstract
Background: In recent era, the advancement in media technology has changed the ways of acquiring information regarding mental health issues. Therefore, this study was carried out to provide an insight about the effective use of online mental health related help seeking behavior of psychiatric patients chiefly in connection whether it reduce the psychological problems of young adults suffering from stress anxiety and depression.
Method: For this purpose, a sample of (N=300) psychiatric patients with and without online mental health related help seeking behavior was approached by using purposive sampling technique. This was a quantitative research and the level of stress, anxiety and depression was measured by using DASS-42 item scale, level of psychological well being was measured by using Ryff & Keyes scale and the level of quality of life was measured by using WHOQOL scale. The collected data was analyzed by using SPSS-23.
Results: The results revealed that YouTube is the most frequent online source among psychiatric patients to seek mental health help. As 57% psychiatric patients use this source. It has also revealed that the severity of psychiatric illness was higher among non-users as compared to users. Similarly, level of depression, anxiety and stress was significantly correlated with psychological wellbeing and quality of life among users i.e. .807**, .816** &.854** respectively. Furthermore, analysis of variance (ANOVA) also showed significant differences in the level of psychological wellbeing and quality of life in comparison with depression, anxiety and stress among online mental health related information users and non-users.
Conclusion: On the basis of findings from results, this concluded that sharing online mental health related information is beneficial for the individuals suffering from psychiatric illness. Hence, it is suggested that mental health care providers including psychologists and psychiatrists should provide online information for the users so that they can get help or seek online tips to manage their mental sufferings.
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Dr. Aqeel Ahmad Khan
Assistant Professor, Department of Applied Psychology, IUB
Dr. Aftab Hussain
Assistant Professor, Riphah International University Islamabad Gulberg Green
Muhammad Sajjad
PhD Scholar, Department of Applied Psychology, IUB
Mr. Allah Ditta
Principal/Managing Director Sunnat Academy & Counseling Services of Pakistan
Aamir Iqbal
PhD Scholar, Department of Applied Psychology, IUB
Yasmin Akhter
Sadiq Abbasi Hospital Bahawalpur, Punjab, Pakistan