(PS5-92) The Influence of Psycho-Social-Spiritual Coping on Help-Seeking and Depressive Symptoms Among Black Women

Abstract Text:

Background: Black women are at an increasingly high risk for experiencing depressive symptoms every year while also having disproportionately lower mental health care service utilization. Previous research highlights the association of help-seeking behaviors on mental health care utilization and mental health outcomes. However, fewer studies have explored protective factors that can impact the direct relationship between help-seeking behaviors and depressive symptoms. The NIH-Healing Experience in All Life Stressors Scale (NIH-HEALS) measures psycho-social-spiritual healing comprised of three subscales (i.e., Connection, Reflection, Trust/Acceptance). Though the scale is predominantly utilized to measure coping skills within the context of experiencing physical illness, the subscales reflect protective factors for mental health outcomes among Black populations. The current study aims to investigate the relationship between psycho-social-spiritual coping and help-seeking behaviors on depressive symptoms among Black women. Procedure: 168 Black women between 19 and 71 years-old (mean age = 30, SD = 7.45) participated in a cross-sectional study examining the influence of resilience factors on the relationship between help-seeking behavior and depressive symptoms. Participants completed a survey, which included measures focused on psychosocial-spiritual well-being (NIH-HEALS), attitudes towards seeking professional help (ATSPPH-SF), and a depression module (PHQ-9).

Results: A significant correlation was found between ATSPPH-SF and PHQ-9 (r = -.348, p <.001), highlighting that an endorsement of seeking professional help was negatively associated with depressive symptoms. Moderation analysis, performed using SPSS (Version 4.1) and PROCESS, revealed a significant interaction between ATSPPH-SF and NIH-HEALS in predicting PHQ-9 (β = -.0113, p = .0324). This highlighted that higher NIH-HEALS weakened the relationship between low endorsement of seeking professional help and depressive symptoms. Exploratory hierarchical regression analyses examining the subscales of NIH-HEALS further showed that the Trust/Acceptance scale is the driver of this association, β = -0.339, p < .001, accounting for 16% of the variance in depressive scores.

Conclusion: This study found that the influence of psycho-social-spiritual coping can mitigate the relationship between negative attitudes towards seeking professional mental health support and depressive symptoms among Black women. Trust/Acceptance, feelings of peacefulness and trust in close relationships, appear to be especially important in this relationship. Future studies should focus on developing interventions to create spaces that support Black women in receiving support.