The Relationship between the Utilization of Mental Health Services, Coping Mechanisms, and Reputation in Male Firefighters

The male firefighter population underutilizes mental health services and the predictors of utilization have not been fully examined. This study used a hierarchical regression design to explore the predictors of utilization of mental health services among 89 male firefighters residing in Utah, California, and Maryland. These predictors included attitudes towards mental health services, barriers to help-seeking, coping, personal reputation, and professional reputation. The variables of interest were analyzed using data collected by the researcher through Qualtrics.com. Two step-wise hierarchical regressions were conducted to determine which variable predicted utilization of mental health services after controlling for all other variables. Results showed that there was no statistically significant relationship between professional or personal reputation and utilization of mental health services; however, there was a statistically significant relationship between barriers to help-seeking and utilization of mental health services. Additionally, a principal components analysis was conducted on the Barriers to Help-Seeking survey items to extract factor structures. Five factors resulted and were titled mental health stigma (factor 1), need for independence (factor 2), passive response (factor 3), need to obtain/share information (factor 4), and difficulty of access (factor 5). Results of the study suggest that mental health services stigma is the best predictor for underutilization of mental health services.