The Role of Outcome Expectations and Attitudes on Decisions to Seek Professional Help

Vogel, David L.
Wester, Stephen R.
Wei, Meifen
Boysen, Guy A.

¹Department of Psychology, Iowa State University
²Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee.

³Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to David L. Vogel, Department of Psychology, Iowa State University, W149 Lagomarcino Hall, Ames, IA, 50011-3180. E-mail: [email protected].

Received Date: August 22, 2003; Revised Date: August 17, 2004; Accepted Date: December 22, 2004

Journal of Counseling Psychology 52(4):p 459-470, October 2005.

Two studies examined the predictors of seeking psychological services. Study 1 examined the role of attitudes in mediating the relationship between 11 psychological factors and intent to seek help for 3 psychological problems. The results demonstrated that (a) the psychological factors and attitudes predicted 62% of the variance in intent to seek help for interpersonal problems and 18% of the variance for drug problems and (b) attitudes toward counseling mediated most of the relationships between the different psychological factors and help-seeking intent. Study 2, in turn, demonstrated that (a) anticipated outcomes of talking with a counselor were associated with the use of psychological services and (b) anticipated risks of disclosing emotions were salient for those having experienced a distressing event.