The mediating role of mental health literacy in the relationship between self-stigma of psychological help and attitude towards seeking psychological help among university students

The purpose of this study is to examine the mediating role of mental health literacy in the relationship between self-stigma of psychological help and attitude towards seeking psychological help among university students. The participants of the study consisted of 527 (337 female, 190 male) undergraduate students studying at Pamukkale University. Participants were determined by the convenience sampling method. The research data were obtained through the Self-Stigma in Seeking Psychological Help Scale, Attitudes Towards Seeking Psychological Help Scale, Mental Health Literacy Scale and Demographics Form. SPSS 26.0 and Process Macro 4.1 programs were used for statistical analysis of the data. In order to examine the mediating role of mental health literacy in the relationship between self-stigma of psychological help and attitude towards seeking psychological help, regression analysis developed by Hayes (2018) and based on the Bootstrap technique was used. The findings of the study concluded that mental health literacy mediated the relationship between self-stigma of psychological help and attitude towards seeking psychological help. The findings were discussed in the light of the relevant literature and theoretical framework, and suggestions for practitioners and researchers were presented.