Help-seeking
Help-seeking theory postulates that people follow a series of predictable steps to seek help for their inadequacies. It is a series of well-ordered and purposeful cognitive and behavioral steps, each leading to specific types of solutions.
Help-seeking theory falls into two categories where some consider similarity in the processes while others consider it as dependent upon the problem. In general help-seeking behaviors are dependent upon three categories: attitudes towards help-seeking, intention to seek help, and actual help-seeking behavior.
Help-seeking was, "in the early studies of socialization and personality development", often viewed as an indicator of dependency and therefore took "on connotations of immaturity, passivity, and even incompetence". Now, there is general agreement that adaptive help-seeking is an important and effective self-regulated learning strategy.
Definition
The academic literature does not provide an agreed upon definition of help-seeking, and several attempts have been made to define the complex construct. Help-seeking has been studied both as a self-regulated learning strategy and as a coping strategy. In the mental health context, help-seeking can be defined as "an adaptive coping process that is the attempt to obtain external assistance to deal with a mental health concern." In the educational context, help-seeking can be "defined as a learning strategy where a learner attempts to obtain external assistance to deal with difficulties experienced while working towards one educational goal."Adaptive vs. maladaptive help-seeking
Help-seeking behavior is divided into two types, adaptive and non-adaptive behavior. It is adaptive when exercised to overcome a difficulty and it depends upon the person's recognition, insight and dimension of the problem and resources for solving the same; this is valued as an active strategy. It is non-adaptive when the behavior persists even after understanding and experiencing the problem-solving mechanism and when used for avoidance. Dynamic barriers in seeking help can also affect active process.Nelson-Le Gall made a central differentiation between adaptive and maladaptive forms of help-seeking. While adaptive help-seeking focuses on mastery and understanding, maladaptive help-seeking involves avoidance of work.
The help-seeking process model
Several theoretical models have conceptualised help-seeking as a multistep process with distinct stages. The help-seeking process model categorises the complex help-seeking process as comprising eight distinct stages: determine there is a problem; determine that help is needed; decide to seek help; select the goal of the help-seeking; select the source of help; solicit help; obtain the requested help; and process the help received.Although the help-seeking process model presents the help-seeking process with distinct and logically sequential stages, in practice it is a dynamic and iterative hermeneutic process where the movements between the different stages are interrelated and non-linear. Deciding on a helping source could, for instance, precede the decision to seek help.
The help-seeking process model can be mapped onto Zimmerman's model of self-regulated learning, which comprises three phases: forethought, performance, and self-reflection processes. The first five stages of the help-seeking process model comprise the forethought phase of Zimmerman's model, soliciting help and obtaining the requested help comprise the performance phase, while processing the received help is considered the self-reflection phase of the help-seeking process.
Determine there is a problem
The initial stage of the help-seeking process model involves recognising difficulties and defining them as a problem. The mere recognition of some difficulty is often insufficient to lead to action, and an individual must further identify the difficulty as problematic before seeking outside help. Implicit ideas about what constitutes comprehension or performance vary between individuals and groups of people. As a consequence, there is considerable variation across individuals to the types and qualities of problems that receive attention and generate sufficient concern to seek help.Determine help is needed
Once identified, a problem must further be perceived as amenable to aid. The second stage of the help-seeking process model involves recognising that seeking help is an appropriate way of dealing with the problem at hand. In other words, a learner has to decide whether or not help is needed or wanted. Determining that help is needed depends on several factors, including the perception of insufficient personal resources, whether other strategies have been exhausted, and attributions for why problems exists that are help-relevant.Decide whether to seek help
The decision stage of the help-seeking process involves deciding on whether or not to seek assistance by weighing different self-motivation beliefs, including self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and task value.Several methods have been utilised to systematically investigate the decision stage of the help-seeking process, such as examining the attitudes and beliefs people have regarding help-seeking, underlying intentions and motivations for seeking help, as well as past help-seeking behaviour.
Perceived benefits vs threats
Unlike many other self-regulated learning strategies, help-seeking may require a complex balancing of perceived enticing benefits and intimidating costs. The perceived benefits of help-seeking reflect a recognition of help-seeking as an instrumental and pragmatic means of learning. In contrast, the perceived threats of help-seeking reflect either a threat to self-esteem caused by the perceived inadequacy or the sociocultural norms that inveigh against seeking assistance.Help-seeking is the only self-regulated learning strategy that is potentially stigmatising due to its perceived personal costs.
Select the goal of the help-seeking
Once the decision has been taken to seek help, a learner needs to assign a purpose or meaning to the assistance seeking. Help-seeking motives can take many forms, and consequently there are different ways of categorising help-seeking goals.Adaptive help-seeking involves improving one's capabilities and/or increasing one's understanding by seeking just enough help to be able to solve a problem or attain a goal independently. Adaptive help-seeking can, for example, involve students asking for hints about the solution to problems, examples of similar problems, or clarification of the problem at hand. Emotional help-seeking is a multifaceted construct, where the goal is to reduce or manage emotional distress, e.g. by getting moral support, sympathy or understanding. While adaptive help-seeking focuses on understanding and capabilities, the goal of maladaptive help-seeking is to avoid effort, i.e. requesting someone else to solve a problem or attain a goal on one's behalf. Avoidance of help-seeking refers to instances when students require help but do not seek it, e.g. a student might skip a problem altogether or put down any answer rather than ask for help.
Select the source of help
A central part of the help-seeking process is identifying and considering available sources of help. Many factors, such as personal characteristics of the help-seeker and the helping source, as well as situational characteristics of the helping context can determine the perceptions help-seekers have of helping sources and subsequently influence which sources they choose to solicit aid from. Help can be sought from a wide variety of sources. As a consequence, there are multiple ways of categorising sources of help.Framework for distinguishing sources of help
Makara and Karabenick's proposed framework for distinguishing sources of help characterises helping sources according to four dichotomous dimensions: role, i.e. formal versus informal; relationship, i.e. personal versus impersonal; channel, i.e. mediated versus face-to-face; and adaptability, i.e. dynamic versus static.The role dimension indicates whether the source's function requires help to be offered. The perceived relationship between the help seeker and the helping source can be distinguished into sources that are perceived to be personal and those judged to be more impersonal. The channel used to access the helping source distinguishes between sources in which the help is distributed face-to-face and those in which the distribution of help is mediated via some form of technology – that is, through any tool or instrument. The adaptability dimension categorises sources as either dynamic or static. Dynamic sources adapt or change over time based on a learner's help-seeking needs, while static sources cannot. The helping source framework acknowledges how various aspects of sources may influence help-seeking.