Abstract
BACKGROUND: It has been proposed that nursing students experience emotional and mental issues due to their educational demands, which influence their academic success. This study aims to explore the relationship between students' attitudes and intentions toward seeking professional psychological help and focus on exploring a mediating role of emotional intelligence. METHODS: This study used a descriptive correlational design. A convenience sample was used to recruit 514 undergraduate nursing students in the central region of Saudi Arabia. Data were collected using self-administered tools from three nursing colleges. Data were analyzed using both descriptive, inferential, and structural equation modeling statistics. RESULTS: The current study results indicate that university students had moderate positive attitudes, moderate positive intentions toward seeking help for mental health concerns, and a positive level of emotional intelligence. Attitudes toward seeking help and emotional intelligence had a significant positive relationship on professional mental help-seeking intentions. Other factors that predict students' intention to seek help include the history of consulting a mental health professional and students who were unsure of the availability of the on-campus counseling center (p <.001). Emotional intelligence has a significant mediation effect on the relationship between mental help-seeking intention and mental help-seeking attitudes toward professional psychological help. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the results, students with emotional intelligence and positive attitudes toward seeking mental help were significantly correlated to their intentions of seeking professional mental help. This study proposes the importance of implementing interventional programs to increase nursing students' intentions to use the university counseling center for optimum mental health and well-being.