According to the IBM-HS, outcome beliefs are instrumental beliefs about seeking help regarding the anticipated process, attributes, and outcomes (e.g., “My seeking help would fix my mental health problem”). These beliefs primarily influence people’s help-seeking attitude.
It is possible for individuals to hold a variety of complex beliefs. For example, some beliefs may be “pro-help-seeking,” in that they highlight the advantages and benefits of seeking help. Others may be “anti-help-seeking” in that they highlight the disadvantages and costs of seeking help.
Yet others may possess a valence that is ambiguous or temporally variable. For example, the belief that seeking help would result in a person “receiving a mental illness diagnosis from the mental health professional” may be seen as a positive, negative, or neutral consequence, depending on how desirable versus undesirable that consequence is evaluated to be by the person at that time.
It is common for people to hold a mix of beliefs, such that they anticipate both good and bad consequences for seeking help (Rickwood et al., 2007).
A description of available prospective mental health help-seeking outcome beliefs measures can be found on the Outcome Beliefs Measures page.
(Please note: select page content is excerpted from Hammer et al., 2024.)