Personal and perceived stigma about alcohol abuse and help-seeking intention

Abstract

Background: personal and perceived stigmas are referred in the literature as obstacles and barriers to help-seeking in mental health, as well as areas to favour in community intervention. Objectives: to compare levels of personal and perceived stigma of Portuguese adolescents and young people in relation to alcohol abuse and to identify predictors of help-seeking intention in situations of abusive alcohol consumption. Methodology: a quantitative descriptive-correlational study, conducted using a multistage sample selected by clusters, from participants who have completed the Questionnaire on Mental Health Literacy Assessment-QuALiSMental (Loureiro, Pedreiro and Correia, 2012). Results: statistically significant differences were found in levels of personal and perceived stigma. Gender has influence on stigma, as well as familiarity and recognition. Personal and perceived stigmas, as well as familiarity and recognition, are predictors of help-seeking. Conclusions: as alcohol consumption among adolescents and young people is widely distributed in society and is culturally justified, priority should be given to education and awareness campaigns to encourage the reduction of perceived stigma because disorders associated with alcohol are those that involve greater stigma and social discrimination.