Information Avoidance in the Context of Mental Health: Applying the Planned Risk Information Avoidance Model

Key Points

• This research aims to understand what influences individuals to avoid seeking mental health information, particularly in those with depressive symptoms.
• Participants with depressive symptoms were assessed for their information avoidance intentions and influencing factors.
• The study refined the Planned Risk Information Avoidance (PRIA) model to analyze predictors of avoidance.
• Key predictors included attitudes toward avoidance, subjective norms, cognitive load, and anticipated regret.
• The refined PRIA model explained 54.8% of the variance in avoidance intention.
• Attitudes and avoidance-related subjective norms were the strongest predictors of information avoidance.
• Both cognitive load and anticipated regret were positively related to the intention to avoid seeking information.