Mental Health Awareness, Stigma, and Help-Seeking Intention in an Indian Tier-II City: Evidence from a Structural Equation Model
Jani Heli1 and Mohammed Afreed T2
Parul Institute of Engineering and Technology (PIET), Faculty of Management Studies,
Parul University, P.O. Limda, Waghodia, Vadodara 391760, Gujarat, India
THIRD AUTHOR: Dr. Paresh Patel, Assistant Professor, PIMR, Parul University
ABSTRACT
Stigma towards mental illness has been the biggest obstacle to care-seeking in the metropolitan zing Indian cities. The study was a cross-sectional survey conducted on the awareness of mental health, patterns of mental health stigma, and stigma-reduction strategies among Vadodara, Gujarat residents (N = 250). The hypothesized pathways of a structural equation model (SEM) were evaluated between Mental Health Awareness (MHA), Stigma Perception (STIG), Socio-Demographic Factors (SDF) and Program Exposure (PROG) on Help-Seeking Intention (HSI) as the mediator and Mental Health Outcome (MHO) as the distal outcome. The model fit was good (chi-square/df = 1.94; CFI = 0.953; RMSEA = 0.061). Stigmatization was found to have a significant and negative correlation with MHA (β = -0.42, p < .001); stigmatization was found to have a negative relationship with help-seeking intention (β = -0.38, p < .001). Program exposure had a most significant direct influence on HSI (β = 0.51, p < .001), and HSI significantly forecasted MHO (β = 0.63, p < .001). The indirect MHA-to-MHO had a significant positive (β = 0.10, p =.001), which verified partial mediation. Multi-group analysis affirmed gender and educational attainment as important moderator variables. There was no threat of common method variance (Harman single factor = 31.4%). Findings show that culturally sensitive multi-modal interventions that incorporate community champions, task-sharing counselors, and online outreach are necessary to enhance treatment gap in Tier-II Indian cities. These results indicate that awareness campaigns are not enough; well-structured community-based interventions are important in transforming awareness to behavioral help-seeking.
Keywords: mental health stigma; awareness; Vadodara; India; structural equation modeling; help-seeking intention; community intervention; LMIC; Gujarat
