Abstract:

The main aim of this study is to determine the factors affecting social work students’ attitudes towards seeking psychological help and their self-esteem; and to determine the relationship between self-stigma and self-esteem. In this study, quantitative research method was used. This descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted with the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th-grade students of Ankara University, Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Social Work. A total of 398 students volunteered to take part in the study. In this study, there were closed-ended questions with regard to the socio-demographic attributes of the students and the factors that may have an impact on seeking psychological help (14 questions). In addition to this, data were gathered by the “Self-Stigma of Seeking Psychological Help Scale” and the “Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale”. In this study, a t-test was used in the data analysis, descriptive statistics were used in determining the percentages and frequencies and Pearson correlation was used to calculate the relationship between scale scores. It was found that there is a negative weak correlation between the scores of the self-stigma of seeking psychological help scale and the self-esteem scale. It is recommended to reinforce the self-esteem of the social work students, who participated in the study, during the education process, to determine the factors that hinder the psychological help-seeking behaviors of the students and to work on eliminating these barriers.

Keywords: