Perceptions o fAfrican adolescent stoseeking professional psychological help

In recent times, the prevalence of distress thoughts and behaviours among youngpeople in Africa has generated concerns. However, not many researchers have focused on theattitudesofAfricanstowardsseekingprofessionalpsychologicalhelp.Inthisstudy,wesoughttoexamine the perception of African adolescents to seek professional psychological help when facedwith life threatening circumstances. A descriptive research design of survey type was employedto analyse data collected from 786 participants from South Africa and Nigeria who completed anonline measure of Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help (ATSPPH). 385(48.9%) of the participants were male and401 (51.0%) were female agedbetween14 and 21.The results established that a slightly high negative perception to seek professional psychologicalhelp was found among African adolescents. Spiritual agents were the most preferred source ofhelp, followed by family members, close and friends/peers. However, South African participantspreferred to seek help from their close friends or peers, followed by no-one, family members,professionalpsychologists,whilespiritualagentsweretheleastsourcesofhelp.Further,thefindingrevealed that inadequate knowledge about professional psychological services, self-concealment,self-stigma,lackofaccessibilitytoprofessionalserviceproviders,waitingtime,costofserviceandlack of trust were barriers to seeking professional psychological help. The study concludes that topromoteprofessionalpsychologicalhelpseekingbehaviouramongAfricanadolescents,awarenessof psychological services as well as access to professional psychological services are required.Also,culturespecificinterventionsthataredigitalizedwouldencourageAfricanadolescentswithpsychologicaldifficulties to seekprofessionalpsychological help