What are the barriers and facilitators to seeking help for mental health in NHS doctors: a systematic review and qualitative study
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Background
The mental health of healthcare professionals is reaching a breaking point, and the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated current mental health issues to unprecedented levels. Whilst some research has been carried out on the barriers that doctors face when seeking mental health help, there is little research into factors which may facilitate seeking help. We aimed to expand the research base on factors which act as barriers to seeking help, as well as gain insight into facilitators of help-seeking behaviour for mental health in NHS doctors.
Methods
We conducted a systematic literature review which identified the barriers and facilitators to seeking help for mental health in healthcare professionals. Following this, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 31 NHS doctors about their experiences with mental health services. Finally, through thematic analysis, key themes were synthesised from the data.
Results
Our systematic literature review uncovered barriers and facilitators from pre-existing literature, of which the barriers were: preventing actions, self-stigma, perceived stigma, costs of seeking treatment, lack of awareness and availability of support, negative career implications, confidentiality concerns and a lack of time to seek help. Only two facilitators were found in the pre-existing literature, a positive work environment and availability of support services.
Our qualitative study uncovered additional barriers and facilitators, of which the identified barriers include: a negative workplace culture, lack of openness, expectations of doctors and generational differences. The facilitators include positive views about mental health, external confidential service, better patient outcomes, protected time, greater awareness and accessibility, open culture and supportive supervisors.
Conclusion
Our study began by identifying barriers and facilitators to seeking mental health help in healthcare workers, through our systematic literature review. We contributed to these findings by identifying themes in qualitative data.. Our findings are crucial to identify factors preventing NHS doctors from seeking help for their mental health so that more can be done on a national, trust-wide and personal level to overcome these barriers. Likewise, further research into facilitators is key to encourage doctors to reach out and seek help for their mental health.
The mental health of healthcare professionals is reaching a breaking point, and the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated current mental health issues to unprecedented levels. Whilst some research has been carried out on the barriers that doctors face when seeking mental health help, there is little research into factors which may facilitate seeking help. We aimed to expand the research base on factors which act as barriers to seeking help, as well as gain insight into facilitators of help-seeking behaviour for mental health in NHS doctors.
Methods
We conducted a systematic literature review which identified the barriers and facilitators to seeking help for mental health in healthcare professionals. Following this, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 31 NHS doctors about their experiences with mental health services. Finally, through thematic analysis, key themes were synthesised from the data.
Results
Our systematic literature review uncovered barriers and facilitators from pre-existing literature, of which the barriers were: preventing actions, self-stigma, perceived stigma, costs of seeking treatment, lack of awareness and availability of support, negative career implications, confidentiality concerns and a lack of time to seek help. Only two facilitators were found in the pre-existing literature, a positive work environment and availability of support services.
Our qualitative study uncovered additional barriers and facilitators, of which the identified barriers include: a negative workplace culture, lack of openness, expectations of doctors and generational differences. The facilitators include positive views about mental health, external confidential service, better patient outcomes, protected time, greater awareness and accessibility, open culture and supportive supervisors.
Conclusion
Our study began by identifying barriers and facilitators to seeking mental health help in healthcare workers, through our systematic literature review. We contributed to these findings by identifying themes in qualitative data.. Our findings are crucial to identify factors preventing NHS doctors from seeking help for their mental health so that more can be done on a national, trust-wide and personal level to overcome these barriers. Likewise, further research into facilitators is key to encourage doctors to reach out and seek help for their mental health.
Date Issued
2022-09-07
Date Acceptance
2022-08-05
Citation
BMC Psychiatry, 2022, 22 (595), pp.1-24
ISSN
1471-244X
Publisher
BioMed Central
Start Page
1
End Page
24
Journal / Book Title
BMC Psychiatry
Volume
22
Issue
595
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2022. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which
permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the
original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or
other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line
to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory
regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this
licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativeco
mmons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.
permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the
original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or
other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line
to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory
regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this
licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativeco
mmons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.
License URL
Identifier
https://bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12888-022-04202-9
Subjects
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Psychiatry
Mental health
Barriers
Facilitators
Help-seeking behaviour
NHS doctors
Systematic review
Qualitative study
CARE
SERVICES
BURNOUT
STIGMA
STRESS
INTERVENTIONS
STRATEGIES
DISTRESS
ENGLAND
IMPACT
Barriers
Facilitators
Help-seeking behaviour
Mental health
NHS doctors
Qualitative study
Systematic review
COVID-19
Humans
Mental Health
Pandemics
Patient Acceptance of Health Care
State Medicine
Humans
Mental Health
State Medicine
Patient Acceptance of Health Care
Pandemics
COVID-19
Psychiatry
1103 Clinical Sciences
1117 Public Health and Health Services
1701 Psychology
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2022-09-07