TY - JOUR
T1 - Mental illness stigma as a moderator in the relationship between religiosity and help-seeking attitudes among Muslims from 16 Arab countries
AU - Fekih-Romdhane, Feten
AU - Daher-Nashif, Suhad
AU - Stambouli, Manel
AU - Alhuwailah, Amthal
AU - Helmy, Mai
AU - Shuwiekh, Hanaa Ahmed Mohamed
AU - Mohamed Lemine, Cheikh Mohamed Fadel
AU - Radwan, Eqbal
AU - Saquib, Juliann
AU - Saquib, Nazmus
AU - Fawaz, Mirna
AU - Zarrouq, Btissame
AU - Naser, Abdallah Y
AU - Obeid, Sahar
AU - Saleh, Maan
AU - Haider, Sanad
AU - Miloud, Lahmer
AU - Badrasawi, Manal
AU - Hamdan-Mansour, Ayman
AU - Barbato, Mariapaola
AU - Motwakil Bakhiet, Aisha
AU - Khalil, Najat Sayem
AU - Adawi, Samir
AU - Grein, Fatheya
AU - Loch, Alexandre Andrade
AU - Cheour, Majda
AU - Hallit, Souheil
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature.
PY - 2023/8/30
Y1 - 2023/8/30
N2 - Background: Determining the potential barriers responsible for delaying access to care, and elucidating pathways to early intervention should be a priority, especially in Arab countries where mental health resources are limited. To the best of our knowledge, no previous studies have examined the relationship between religiosity, stigma and help-seeking in an Arab Muslim cultural background. Hence, we propose in the present study to test the moderating role of stigma toward mental illness in the relationship between religiosity and help-seeking attitudes among Muslim community people living in different Arab countries. Method: The current survey is part of a large-scale multinational collaborative project (StIgma of Mental Problems in Arab CounTries [The IMPACT Project]). We carried-out a web-based cross-sectional, and multi-country study between June and November 2021. The final sample comprised 9782 Arab Muslim participants (mean age 29.67 ± 10.80 years, 77.1% females). Results: Bivariate analyses showed that less stigmatizing attitudes toward mental illness and higher religiosity levels were significantly associated with more favorable help-seeking attitudes. Moderation analyses revealed that the interaction religiosity by mental illness stigma was significantly associated with help-seeking attitudes (Beta =.005; p <.001); at low and moderate levels of stigma, higher religiosity was significantly associated with more favorable help-seeking attitudes. Conclusion: Our findings preliminarily suggest that mental illness stigma is a modifiable individual factor that seems to strengthen the direct positive effect of religiosity on help-seeking attitudes. This provides potential insights on possible anti-stigma interventions that might help overcome reluctance to counseling in highly religious Arab Muslim communities.
AB - Background: Determining the potential barriers responsible for delaying access to care, and elucidating pathways to early intervention should be a priority, especially in Arab countries where mental health resources are limited. To the best of our knowledge, no previous studies have examined the relationship between religiosity, stigma and help-seeking in an Arab Muslim cultural background. Hence, we propose in the present study to test the moderating role of stigma toward mental illness in the relationship between religiosity and help-seeking attitudes among Muslim community people living in different Arab countries. Method: The current survey is part of a large-scale multinational collaborative project (StIgma of Mental Problems in Arab CounTries [The IMPACT Project]). We carried-out a web-based cross-sectional, and multi-country study between June and November 2021. The final sample comprised 9782 Arab Muslim participants (mean age 29.67 ± 10.80 years, 77.1% females). Results: Bivariate analyses showed that less stigmatizing attitudes toward mental illness and higher religiosity levels were significantly associated with more favorable help-seeking attitudes. Moderation analyses revealed that the interaction religiosity by mental illness stigma was significantly associated with help-seeking attitudes (Beta =.005; p <.001); at low and moderate levels of stigma, higher religiosity was significantly associated with more favorable help-seeking attitudes. Conclusion: Our findings preliminarily suggest that mental illness stigma is a modifiable individual factor that seems to strengthen the direct positive effect of religiosity on help-seeking attitudes. This provides potential insights on possible anti-stigma interventions that might help overcome reluctance to counseling in highly religious Arab Muslim communities.
KW - Arab countries
KW - Help-seeking attitudes
KW - Islam
KW - Mental illness
KW - Religiosity
KW - Stigma
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85169230478&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85169230478&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/1eb7cda4-5a5f-38b2-a238-a0fdf2d82cdf/
U2 - 10.1186/s12889-023-16622-7
DO - 10.1186/s12889-023-16622-7
M3 - Article
C2 - 37649023
SN - 1471-2458
VL - 23
SP - 1671
JO - BMC Public Health
JF - BMC Public Health
IS - 1
M1 - 1671
ER -