ERIC Number: EJ1335149
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2022
Pages: 9
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0744-8481
EISSN: N/A
Effect of Nostalgia as a Motivational Force for Depressed Students to Seek Professional Psychological Help
Hussain, Syed Ali; Alhabash, Saleem
Journal of American College Health, v70 n2 p484-492 2022
In times of distress, people show a tendency to remember the 'good old days,' a bittersweet emotion called Nostalgia. This study explores how experimentally-induced nostalgia improves attitude toward counseling center and behavioral intentions to contact the counseling center on a college campus. Students living with depression (N = 148) were randomly assigned to view a public service announcement (PSA) for the campus counseling center that was designed with or without a nostalgia-inducing narrative and imagery. Participants exposed to the nostalgic PSA expressed significantly higher positive emotions compared to the control condition, after controlling for the effects of stigma, past counseling experience, levels of depression, and friends or family with mental illness. Mediation analyses showed that the higher positive emotions participants felt, the more positive was their attitude toward the campus counseling center, which in turn increased behavioral intention to seek help. The study suggests nostalgia-themed messages to promote help-seeking intentions among students experiencing depression.
Descriptors: Depression (Psychology), Help Seeking, School Health Services, Memory, Emotional Response, Social Bias, Negative Attitudes, Student Attitudes, College Students, Counseling Services, Mental Health, Psychological Patterns
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A