In this study, I am interested in the process of choosing a psychologist, when in need of psychological help. The Danish welfare system includes a system for psychologist treatment. My area of interest is of the process in seeking a psychologist and witch factors influences this decision. There seems to be much difference in what goes on in this gap between needing psychological help and finding a psychologist. Based on this interest the following research question is made:
What factors influence the choice of the psychologist, with the individual person seeking psychological help in Denmark.
And how does the individual experience the process of seeking psychological help in Denmark.
First this study consists of a scoping review of relevant scientific studies related to the research question in broader form as to include studies outside Denmark as to be able to compare. The studies are selected on a number of inclusion and exclusion criteria. The review gives an overview of existing studies and any possible gab in the research of this topic. Since there is no research of the topic in Denmark this is ex- plored in a survey.
The survey is a mixed method consisting of a questionnaire which includes quanti- tate questions for exploring of connections between factors of help seeking as well as qualitive questions to further investigation of the experiences with help seeking. The data was obtained among adults over 18 years of age who had sought psychological help in Denmark. The questionnaire was distributed and randomly selected via an open link on social media platforms and through institutions and schools. Participant where to rate the factors from what degree of relevance to their choice of a psycholo- gist and their experience of the process of seeking a psychologist on a Likert scale. Quantitative data from the questionnaire was then analyzes using SPSS as to test for Correlations. The quantitative data was analyzed trough thematization of general tendencies from the participants responses on the subjects.
The design included (N= 779) participants who answered the full questionnaire. The distribution of gender was women (N= 813) and men (N= 94). Statistical analysis in SPSS shows that’s the two factors with the highest value for responders was waiting time and the psychologist specific knowledges of their issues. I find that Gender, age and educational level has an effect on the results. I equally find that where the person has a letter of recommendation from their doctor, to where they can get a percentage of the treatment paid by the government has an effect in the results of how they rate the factors and as to how they experience the process of help seeking. Furthermore, I find that guldens from professionals or family and friends shows have an effect on the results of the experience.
In an addition, the qualitive results show several eminent topics to seeking psycho- logical help. The topics related to this are: Firsthand impressions, availability, knowledges, trust, no choice. The topics related to evaluation of the process are: Re- ferral, recommendation and guidance, social stigma, waiting time, unaware of the process in the system, acknowledgement of problems, feeling alone and confusion. In relation to seeking psychological help I find that participants report of time delays in relation to life situations such as, divorce, education, price and acknowledgement of psychological problems.