Facilitating factors and barriers in help-seeking behaviour in adolescents and young adults with depressive symptoms: A qualitative study.

Facilitating factors can play a critical role in the help-seeking process of depressed adolescents and young adults, and may guide efforts to increase access to mental health care of this vulnerable age group. In particular, recognition and encouragement from school personnel and peers and easy access to care providers positively influenced help-seeking in our sample. Health illiteracy and attitudinal aspects appeared to be important barriers to seeking treatment and public/school campaigns aimed at reducing health illiteracy and stigma might be necessary to improve treatment-seeking and health care utilization in this age group.