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Strategic Help-seeking for Wellbeing

Whereas one way to view help-seeking could be that needing help is a sign of weakness or dependence, a more productive view is that help-seeking is one strategic response to the problem at hand (Karabenick, 1998; Newman, 1990; Newman, 1998; Ryan & Pintrich, 1998) and an intelligent form of self-regulatory behaviour (Nelson-Le Gall & Resnick, 1998). Yet many people do not seek appropriate help because they may have performance (rather than mastery) goals, unsupportive interpersonal relationships, feelings of low personal competence, and a fear of censure (Newman, 1990; Newman, 1998; Ryan & Pintrich, 1998).

Help-seeking can be divided into two types (Karabenick, 1998):

  1. executive, which seeks to avoid personal effort by employing the resources of others ('Just tell me the answer!')
  2. instrumental, which seeks just enough assistance or scaffolding to allow the person to proceed to the next step of mastery ('Give me a clue!').

The former is associated with performance goals, and the latter with mastery goals and effort attributions (Nelson-Le Gall & Resnick, 1998).

Seeking help is a complex process embedded in contexts. A taxonomy of the process of help-seeking includes:

  • being aware of task difficulty or perplexity (metacognitive awareness)
  • deciding the necessity of the request (Can I persevere? Should I give up?)
  • deciding the personal/social costs of the request (Will I look stupid? Will I be indebted?)
  • deciding the benefits of the request (Will I learn more? Will I pass?)
  • formulating the request in words
  • choosing a target helper (teacher, peer, parent, mentor)
  • processing the help received.

(Compiled from Nelson-Le Gall & Resnick, 1998; Newman, 1998)

Creating environments that encourage and support instrumental help-seeking can enable people to gather together resources and information, thus empowering them to approach problem-solving situations with self-efficacy about their ability to find solutions.

Comment
'Seeking help' is an important strategy to help individuals feel able to cope and to reduce the sense of isolation that can be experienced by teachers and other education workers. Encouraging others through our behaviour - by offering help and being as receptive as we can - improves the social cohesion of the whole work site. Help seeking is a vital skill for both young people and people who work on education sites.

References
Karabenick, S. A. (1998). 'Help seeking as a strategic resource.' In S. A. Karabenick (Ed.), Strategic help seeking: Implications for learning and teaching (pp. 1-11). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Nelson-Le Gall, S. & Resnick, L. (1998). 'Help seeking, achievement motivation and the social practice of intelligence in school.' In S. A. Karabenick (Ed.), Strategic help seeking: Implications for learning and teaching (pp. 39-60). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Newman, R. S. (1990). 'Children's help-seeking in the classroom: The role of motivational factors and attitudes.' Journal of Educational Psychology, 82, 71-80.

Newman, R. S. (1998). 'Adaptive help seeking: A role of social interaction in self-regulated learning.' In S. A. Karabenick (Ed.), Strategic help seeking: Implications for learning and teaching (pp. 13-37). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Ryan, A. M. & Pintrich, P. R. (1998). 'Achievement and social motivational influences on help seeking in the classroom.' In S. A. Karabenick (Ed.), Strategic help seeking: Implications for learning and teaching (pp. 117-139). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.