'I can't see myself seeking help' : The influence of clinical placements on nursing students' stigmatising beliefs and intentions to seek help for their own mental health issues : A prospective cohort study

Journal article


Moxham, Lorna, Roberts, Michelle, Yousiph, Taylor, Jay, Elissa-Kate, Lewer, Kelly, Robson, Georgia, Drury, Peta, Cordina, Joanne, Villeneuve-Smith, Suzi and Patterson, Christopher. (2025). 'I can't see myself seeking help' : The influence of clinical placements on nursing students' stigmatising beliefs and intentions to seek help for their own mental health issues : A prospective cohort study. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing. 34(1), p. Article e13429. https://doi.org/10.1111/inm.13429
AuthorsMoxham, Lorna, Roberts, Michelle, Yousiph, Taylor, Jay, Elissa-Kate, Lewer, Kelly, Robson, Georgia, Drury, Peta, Cordina, Joanne, Villeneuve-Smith, Suzi and Patterson, Christopher
Abstract

Mental health conditions such as anxiety, depression and psychosis represent a global health challenge. Stigma surrounding mental health continues to hinder help-seeking behaviours for people with mental illness and as this study demonstrates, nursing students as well. However, if student nurses are reluctant to seek help for mental health issues, how can others be expected to do so? This reluctance poses challenges in mental health nursing, impacting both care provision and nursing education. The present study seeks to explore the influence of traditional versus non-traditional mental health clinical placements on second-year nursing students' stigmatising beliefs and intentions to seek help for mental health issues. Employing a prospective cohort design using the TREND checklist, the study sampled second-year nursing students assigned to either traditional hospital-based or non-traditional recovery-focused mental health clinical placements. Using validated scales, stigmatising beliefs and help-seeking intentions were measured before and after the placements. Statistical analyses were conducted to assess changes in these variables over time and across placement settings. A significant impact of placement setting on help-seeking intentions was observed, with students in non-traditional placements showing an increased willingness to seek help. Additionally, non-traditional placements were found to significantly reduce stigmatising beliefs in all measured domains, suggesting that these settings may provide a more conducive environment for fostering positive attitudes towards mental health. Recovery-focused placements appear to offer experiences that can diminish stigma and encourage more positive perceptions and intentions related to mental health support.

Keywordsclinical placements; help-seeking behaviour; nursing education; recovery-focused care; stigma
Year2025
JournalInternational Journal of Mental Health Nursing
Journal citation34 (1), p. Article e13429
PublisherJohn Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd
ISSN1445-8330
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1111/inm.13429
PubMed ID39302041
Scopus EID2-s2.0-85204536366
PubMed Central IDPMC11751763
Open accessPublished as ‘gold’ (paid) open access
Page range1-9
Publisher's version
License
File Access Level
Open
Output statusPublished
Publication dates
Online20 Sep 2024
Publication process dates
Accepted29 Aug 2024
Deposited07 Apr 2025
Additional information

© 2024 The Author(s). International Journal of Mental Health Nursing published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.

Permalink -

https://acuresearchbank.acu.edu.au/item/9195z/-i-can-t-see-myself-seeking-help-the-influence-of-clinical-placements-on-nursing-students-stigmatising-beliefs-and-intentions-to-seek-help-for-their-own-mental-health-issues-a-prospective-cohort-study

Download files


Publisher's version
OA_Moxham_2024_I_cant_see_myself_seeking_help.pdf
License: CC BY-NC 4.0
File access level: Open

  • 64
    total views
  • 28
    total downloads
  • 6
    views this month
  • 6
    downloads this month
These values are for the period from 19th October 2020, when this repository was created.

Export as

Related outputs

'Changing people's hearts' : The lived expertise perspective of communicating with nursing students at a mental health clinical placement
Thompson, Hannah, Patterson, Christopher, Lewer, Kelly and Moxham, Lorna. (2025). 'Changing people's hearts' : The lived expertise perspective of communicating with nursing students at a mental health clinical placement. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing. 34(1), p. Article e13465. https://doi.org/10.1111/inm.13465
Do therapeutic recreation mental health clinical placements provide educational experiences to pre-registration student nurses? A mixed methods systematic review
Leplaw, Abigail, Fernandez, Ritin, Lewer, Kelly, Patterson, Christopher and Moxham, Lorna. (2025). Do therapeutic recreation mental health clinical placements provide educational experiences to pre-registration student nurses? A mixed methods systematic review. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing. 34(1), p. Article e13473. https://doi.org/10.1111/inm.13473
Non-traditional mental health clinical placements : An effective means for reducing self-stigma in pre-registration nursing students
Patterson, Christopher, Roberts, Michelle, Yousiph, Taylor, Robson, Georgia, Lewer, Kelly, Jay, Elissa-Kate and Moxham, Lorna. (2025). Non-traditional mental health clinical placements : An effective means for reducing self-stigma in pre-registration nursing students. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing. 32(1), pp. 143-151. https://doi.org/10.1111/jpm.13093
Connection and recovery in the COVID-19 age : An analysis of changes in goal-setting throughout the pandemic by consumers living with enduring mental illness
Patterson, Christopher, Roberts, Michelle, Yousiph, Taylor, Robson, Georgia, Lewer, Kelly, Jay, Elissa-Kate and Moxham, Lorna. (2024). Connection and recovery in the COVID-19 age : An analysis of changes in goal-setting throughout the pandemic by consumers living with enduring mental illness. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing. 33(1), pp. 166-174. https://doi.org/10.1111/inm.13232
"This should be a compulsory placement for all nursing students" : An evaluation of pre-registration nursing students’ perceptions of learning on a mental health clinical placement
Moxham, Lorna, Roberts, Michelle, Yousiph, Taylor, Lewer, Kelly, Jay, Elissa-Kate, Robson, Georgia and Patterson, Christopher. (2024). "This should be a compulsory placement for all nursing students" : An evaluation of pre-registration nursing students’ perceptions of learning on a mental health clinical placement. Nurse Education in Practice. 79, p. Article 104077. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2024.104077
Contributing to ‘a sense of purpose’ – Evaluating consumer recovery progress after attending a therapeutic-recreation intervention programme : A quantitative analysis
Jay, Elissa-Kate, Moxham, Lorna, Roberts, Michelle, Yousiph, Taylor, Robson, Georgia, Lewer, Kelly and Patterson, Christopher. (2024). Contributing to ‘a sense of purpose’ – Evaluating consumer recovery progress after attending a therapeutic-recreation intervention programme : A quantitative analysis. International Journal of Social Psychiatry. 70(5), pp. 926-932. https://doi.org/10.1177/00207640241242024
Understanding the processes, practices and influences of calibration on feedback literacy in higher education marking : A qualitative study
Middleton, Rebekkah, Lewer, Kelly, Antoniou, Carolyn, Pratt, Helen, Bowdler, Suzanne, Jans, Carley and Rolls, Kaye. (2024). Understanding the processes, practices and influences of calibration on feedback literacy in higher education marking : A qualitative study. Nurse Education Today. 135, p. Article 106106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2024.106106
Capital, change and Elsie's Place : Understanding the history of safe accommodation in Australia
Lewer, Kelly. (2023). Capital, change and Elsie's Place : Understanding the history of safe accommodation in Australia. Public Health Nursing. 40(1), pp. 191-194. https://doi.org/10.1111/phn.13149
Depicting Bourdieu's Concepts as a Set of Stackable and Transparent Lenses
Lewer, Kelly. (2023). Depicting Bourdieu's Concepts as a Set of Stackable and Transparent Lenses. Sociology Lens. 36(4), pp. 469-473. https://doi.org/10.1111/johs.12436