Triyono Triyono, Rahma Wira Nita, Septya Suarja, Puji Gusri Handayani, Rahmi Dwi Feberiani, Hafiz Hidayat
This commentary highlights the significance of Patricio et al.'s (2025) findings on the mediating role of self-efficacy in the relationship between shyness and help-seeking among Filipino college students. The study challenges assumptions that shyness directly hinders help-seeking and emphasizes the cultural influence of hiya. Notably, self-efficacy mediates help-seeking for suicidal ideation, underscoring its importance in high-risk situations and its relevance for suicide-prevention initiatives in higher education. We further discuss the roles of stigma, social support, and cultural expectations, as well as the need for gender-sensitive research. The commentary advocates culturally grounded interventions to strengthen student mental-health help-seeking. © The Author(s) 2026. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
Department Guidance and Counseling, Universitas PGRI Sumatera Barat, Padang, Indonesia; Department Guidance and Counseling, Universitas Muhammadiyah Palopo, Palopo, Indonesia; Department Guidance and Counseling, Universitas Negeri Padang, Padang, Indonesia; Department of Elementary Education, Universitas Adzkia, Padang, Indonesia
