Mental Health Literacy Reduces the Impact of Internalized Stigma on Older Adults' Attitudes and Intentions to Seek Mental Health Services

Objectives: Older adults are the least likely age group to seek mental health services, and internalized stigma is an important reason why. We sought to further our understanding of which older adults are particularly likely to be affected by internalized stigma, and why, by investigating mental health literacy (MHL) as a moderator within the internalized stigma model of help-seeking.

Methods: We utilized a conditional process analysis of cross-sectional, secondary data from 350 distressed older adults. Participants completed an online survey consisting of measures of distress, perceived control, experiential avoidance, MHL, public and self-stigma of seeking help, help-seeking attitudes, and conditional help-seeking intentions.

Results: MHL moderated the internalized stigma model; distressed older adults with lower MHL were more likely to have public stigma internalized as self-stigma, which then reduced their intentions to seek help. More specifically, low MHL magnified the negative effect of self-stigma on attitudes and intentions.

Conclusions: These results increase our understanding of which older adults are less likely to seek mental health services: distressed older adults with poor MHL and high self-stigma.

Clinical implications: MHL is a malleable construct that can be targeted by interventions designed to increase help-seeking among distressed older adults in need of professional help.