Communicative Aspect of Prevention in Mental Health among Students Using (Evidence from NRU HSE)

Quite recently, considerable attention has been paid to prevention in mental health. Despite the availability of organizations that provide professional mental health counseling, young people prefer to seek help from informal resources such as parents and friends. However, the specifics of communication, developed by specialized organizations and aimed at young adults, have rarely been studied directly. The purpose of this study is to identify the main barriers affecting students' desision to obtain professional psychological help and to identify areas for further development of mental health communication among students at the Moscow campus of NRU HSE. It is a quantitative study. A questionnaire was used to collect data about students’ level of mental health literacy, their knowledge about the counselling center, help-seeking behaviour and the most common barriers that have negative effect on students’ decision to obtain professional psychological help. A SWOT-analysis was used to analyse the positive and negative aspects of the current communication process between psychological counselling center of HSE and students on the topic of prevention in mental health. The results of the study showed that a low level of mental health literacy among students as a result of the lack of communication on that topic is a barrier that influences students’ decision to obtain professional psychological help. Another barrier is the perception of a psychologist as a stranger. Based on the findings of these research, recommendations for further practical application in order to improve communication strategy of psychological counselling center of HSE were also presented.