Factors Facilitating the Uptake of Preventive Mental Health Support: An Exploratory Study of Primary Prevention among Workers

Abstract

: Objective: Although many workers experience stress in daily life, psychological and practical barriers often prevent them from accessing mental health support before their difficulties become more severe. This exploratory study examined, among employed adults with no previous experience of using mental health services, whether self-stigma ratings differed according to the wording used to describe an interaction and the type of service provider. It also explored the service conditions that may facilitate initial access to preventive mental health support. Methods: An online survey was conducted with 349 workers in Japan. Participants reported their usual sources of consultation, rated self-stigma across six conditions combining two wording types (“consulting” and “chatting”) with three provider types, and provided free-text responses describing the services or conditions under which they might be willing to talk with a psychological counsellor. Results: Self-stigma ratings were significantly higher when the interaction was framed as “consulting” rather than “chatting” ( p < 0.001). The main effect of provider type was also significant ( p = 0.003), and the interaction between wording type and provider type was significant ( p = 0.02). Although the effects of provider type and the interaction were small, post hoc comparisons showed that self-stigma ratings were higher for “consulting” than for “chatting” across all provider types. Age was significantly associated with self-stigma ratings ( p = 0.01), whereas gender was not significant ( p = 0.59). Free-text analysis identified six categories of preferred service conditions, among which low-intrusion and privacy-protective design and accessible design were most frequently reported. Higher self-stigma was associated with greater odds of selecting a non-counselling-oriented design rather than a low-intrusion and privacy-protective design. Conclusions: The findings suggest that preventive mental health support for workers may benefit from low-threshold entry points that reduce psychological and practical barriers, including careful attention to how support is labelled and introduced.