P-491 Reproductive mental health empowerment: enhancing mental health literacy among women with reproductive health issues
Authors: Ng N  L , Chan H  Y C , Zhang S  S , Chiang W  M T 
Published: July 2024

Study question

What is the role of mental health literacy and its impact on women’s help-seeking when there are reproductive mental health issues?

Summary answer

Mental health literacy and attitudes toward seeking professional help significantly predict one’s emotional well-being and help-seeking behaviour.

What is known already

Women who encounter reproductive health issues can experience an array of physical issues as well as emotional hurdles. There are barriers at the societal level that impede women from addressing these reproductive health-related mental health challenges, such as social stigma, lack of attention on mental wellness and a disproportionate amount of focus on the fertility treatments’ outcomes. There is limited understanding regarding the relationship between women’s reproductive mental health literacy and their tendencies to seek help in the literature.

Study design, size, duration

This study used cross-sectional data from an online questionnaire that explored the participants’ reproductive mental health literacy, attitudes towards seeking professional help and their actual help-seeking behaviour. Data were collected between July and September 2023.

Participants/materials, setting, methods

Participants were 356 Chinese women (mean age = 32.64±7.15) recruited through community network and social media. Participants answered questions related to their knowledge of mental illness, ability of seeking professional help, recognition of mental illness, acceptance of patients with mental illness, recognition of need for psychotherapeutic help, stigma tolerance, interpersonal openness, confidence in mental health practitioner, knowledge on community resource and their actual help seeking behaviour.

Main results and the role of chance

59% of the participants attained a Bachelor’s degree or above and 74% were married. 43.5% of the participants experienced emotional disturbances triggered by reproductive health issues. Among these participants, 52% chose not to seek help from others. Among different types of reproductive problems, participants with fertility and reproductive health problem scored lowest in terms of help-seeking behavior (M = .28, SD = .45, p&lt;.05., reproductive mental health knowledge (M = 27.29, SD = 4.39, p&lt;.01), recognition of mental illness (M = 16.73, SD = 4.0,p&lt;.05), recognition of need for psychotherapeutic help (M = 17.99, SD = 3.63, p&lt;.01), and interpersonal openness (M = 16.85, SD = 3.35, p&lt;.01). In terms of emotional disturbances, the result indicated that acceptance of patients with mental illness (b = -.035, p &lt;.05) and recognition of the need for psychotherapeutic help (b = .068, p &lt;.05) predicted the numbers of emotional disturbances one experienced. In terms of help-seeking behaviour, knowledge of mental illness (B = 1.30, p &lt; .01), recognition of the need for psychotherapeutic help (B = 1.49, p &lt; .01), and knowledge of community resources (B = 2.15, p &lt; .01) significantly predicted one’s actual help-seeking behaviour.

Limitations, reasons for caution

There may be potential confounding factors that influenced the results, such as previous mental health history and use of mental health facilities. The ability to establish a causal relationship between reproductive mental health literacy, help-seeking attitude, and actual help-seeking is constrained due to the study’s utilization of a cross-sectional design.

Wider implications of the findings

Providing counseling for infertility plays a crucial role in addressing the emotional and psychological needs of individuals by reducing the stigma surrounding reproductive mental health challenges. Incorporating infertility counseling into fertility treatment empowers women with information and facilitates open and honest communication on mental well-being.

Trial registration number

Not applicable