AN EXAMINATION OF THE ROLES OF DISTRESS, SELF-STIGMA, CAREGIVER ROLE IDENTITY, AND SELF-COMPASSION IN CLERGY HELP-SEEKING ATTITUDES

Abstract

Clergy comprise an essential subpopulation of caregivers, providing spiritual guidance and emotional support to many community members. The intense occupational demands for clergy result in burnout and mental health concerns causing them to seek support through a variety of private and intrapersonal resources, however clergy may underutilize professional psychological services when dealing with distress. A review of literature on mental health stigma, caregiver role identity, and self-compassion provides a framework for examining clergy help-seeking attitudes and understanding its various influencers. This study examines the relationships among distress, self-stigma of help-seeking, caregiver role identity, self-compassion, and attitudes toward psychological help-seeking in a majority Christian clergy sample using a quantitative method and a descriptive correlational design. Goals of this study were to examine whether caregiver role identity and self-compassion predict levels of self-stigma and whether self-stigma predicts attitudes toward help-seeking. Results revealed rates of depression in this clergy sample that resemble previous research, and showed that the stigma associated with mental health help-seeking predicts help-seeking attitudes in clergy. Clergy self-compassion predicted self-stigma of help-seeking and was significantly associated with levels of distress, caregiver role identity, and help-seeking attitudes. Findings also revealed that caregiver role identity did not relate to clergy self-stigma in ways originally hypothesized, however caregiver role identity salience was associated with higher levels of distress in clergy. Findings from this study inform future research and practice recommendations for the field of psychology in supporting the mental health of this population, and for congregations and organizations invested in clergy mental health.