Predicting Sexually Victimized Women's Mental Health And Substance Use Help-Seeking Behavior

Abstract

In order to eliminate disparities in mental health and substance abuse treatment use and access, it is important to gain information about predictors of such help-seeking behaviors. The goal of this study was to determine what were the mental health and substance abuse experiences, what were the help-seeking behaviors, and what factors predicted help-seeking for a sample of sexually victimized women. A combined dataset consisting of data from wave-2 of the National Study of the Health and Life Experiences of Women (NSHLEW), the Chicago Health and Life Experiences of Women Study (CHLEW), and the Women's Health, Identity, and Lifetime Development Study (WHILD) was used for this study (, Hughes et al., 2006; Parks & Heller, 2013; Wilsnack et al., 2008). In total, the study sample consisted of 541 women who experienced either child or adult sexual abuse within their lifetimes. The predictor variables were selected and organized based on the Gelberg and Andersen Behavioral Model for Vulnerable Populations (Gelberg, Andersen, & Leake, 2000), which included predisposing, enabling, need, and vulnerability variable categories. The predisposing variables childhood sexual victimization, sexual orientation, age and social support were associated with and significantly predicted different help-seeking behaviors. All enabling variables, education, income and employment, were significantly associated with or predicted a type of help-seeking behavior. Additionally, all need variables, mental health and substance abuse related, were associated with and predicted a form of help-seeking behavior. A number of the predictor variables such as sexual orientation and substance abuse symptoms were also classified as vulnerability variables, those that could lead to the marginalization of participants. Research of this nature is among the first steps in understanding factors influencing the help-seeking behaviors of highly vulnerable populations. Having an initial understanding of such phenomena could aid direct and indirect-practice social workers in the forefront of health-disparities work.