The Relationship Between Positive Mental Health Literacy and Mental Well-Being Among Adolescents: Implications for School Health Services

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Abstract

Mental health education is a central part of school nurses’ practice. Mental health literacy is an asset for health that educational initiatives can strengthen, and a significant determinant of mental health. This study was intended to examine the relationship between positive mental health literacy (PMeHL) and mental well-being to discuss its implications for school health services’ mental health education. The relationship was assessed using a multiple linear regression model controlling for relevant covariates. Data were derived from a cross-sectional school-based survey including 1,888 adolescents aged 15–21 years (response rate 97.3%). A weak gender difference was found in PMeHL. The regression model accounted for 41% of the variance in adolescents’ mental well-being; PMeHL was a significant explanatory variable of mental well-being. Accordingly, the current study found support for including PMeHL, or knowledge of how to obtain and maintain good mental health, as an integral component of school health services’ mental health education among adolescents.

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Most cited references 22

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Mental Health Literacy: Past, Present, and Future.

Stan Kutcher, Yifeng Wei, Connie Coniglio (2016)

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Health literacy in childhood and youth: a systematic review of definitions and models

Janine Bröder, Orkan Okan, Ullich Bauer … (2017)

Background Children and young people constitute a core target group for health literacy research and practice: during childhood and youth, fundamental cognitive, physical and emotional development processes take place and health-related behaviours and skills develop. However, there is limited knowledge and academic consensus regarding the abilities and knowledge a child or young person should possess for making sound health decisions. The research presented in this review addresses this gap by providing an overview and synthesis of current understandings of health literacy in childhood and youth. Furthermore, the authors aim to understand to what extent available models capture the unique needs and characteristics of children and young people. Method Six databases were systematically searched with relevant search terms in English and German. Of the n = 1492 publications identified, N = 1021 entered the abstract screening and N = 340 full-texts were screened for eligibility. A total of 30 articles, which defined or conceptualized generic health literacy for a target population of 18 years or younger, were selected for a four-step inductive content analysis. Results The systematic review of the literature identified 12 definitions and 21 models that have been specifically developed for children and young people. In the literature, health literacy in children and young people is described as comprising variable sets of key dimensions, each appearing as a cluster of related abilities, skills, commitments, and knowledge that enable a person to approach health information competently and effectively and to derive at health-promoting decisions and actions. Discussion Identified definitions and models are very heterogeneous, depicting health literacy as multidimensional, complex construct. Moreover, health literacy is conceptualized as an action competence, with a strong focus on personal attributes, while also recognising its interrelatedness with social and contextual determinants. Life phase specificities are mainly considered from a cognitive and developmental perspective, leaving children’s and young people’s specific needs, vulnerabilities, and social structures poorly incorporated within most models. While a critical number of definitions and models were identified for youth or secondary school students, similar findings are lacking for children under the age of ten or within a primary school context.

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Mental health literacy measures evaluating knowledge, attitudes and help-seeking: a scoping review

Yifeng Wei, Patrick J McGrath, Jill Hayden … (2015)

Background Mental health literacy has received increasing attention as a useful strategy to promote early identification of mental disorders, reduce stigma and enhance help-seeking behaviors. However, despite the abundance of research on mental health literacy interventions, there is the absence of evaluations of current available mental health literacy measures and related psychometrics. We conducted a scoping review to bridge the gap. Methods We searched PubMed, PsycINFO, Embase, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, and ERIC for relevant studies. We only focused on quantitative studies and English publications, however, we didn’t limit study participants, locations, or publication dates. We excluded non-English studies, and did not check the grey literature (non peer-reviewed publications or documents of any type) and therefore may have missed some eligible measures. Results We located 401 studies that include 69 knowledge measures (14 validated), 111 stigma measures (65 validated), and 35 help-seeking related measures (10 validated). Knowledge measures mainly investigated the ability of illness identification, and factual knowledge of mental disorders such as terminology, etiology, diagnosis, prognosis, and consequences. Stigma measures include those focused on stigma against mental illness or the mentally ill; self-stigma ; experienced stigma; and stigma against mental health treatment and help-seeking. Help-seeking measures included those of help-seeking attitudes, intentions to seek help, and actual help-seeking behaviors. Conclusions Our review provides a compendium of available mental health literacy measures to facilitate applying existing measures or developing new measures. It also provides a solid database for future research on systematically assessing the quality of the included measures. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12888-015-0681-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): J Sch Nurs

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): J Sch Nurs

Journal ID (publisher-id): JSN

Journal ID (hwp): spjsn

Title: The Journal of School Nursing

Publisher: SAGE Publications (Sage CA: Los Angeles, CA )

ISSN (Print): 1059-8405

ISSN (Electronic): 1546-8364

Publication date (Electronic): 26 September 2017

Publication date (Print): April 2019

Volume: 35

Issue: 2

Pages: 107-116

Affiliations

[1 ]Department of Public Health and Nursing, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway

[2 ]Centre for Health Promotion Research, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway

Author notes

[*]Hanne N. Bjørnsen, MPH, MS, RN, Department of Public Health and Nursing, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Postbox 8905, 7491 Trondheim, Norway. Email: hanne.n.bjornsen@ 123456ntnu.no

Article

Publisher ID: 10.1177_1059840517732125

DOI: 10.1177/1059840517732125

PMC ID: 7323733

PubMed ID: 28950750

SO-VID: 2fb71302-a1f4-47e4-898d-174aea164f93

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This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License ( http://www.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 pages ( https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).

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Funded by: Norges Forskningsråd, FundRef https://doi.org/10.13039/501100005416;

The Relationship Between Positive Mental Health Literacy and Mental Well-Being Among Adolescents: Implications for School Health Services

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The International Journal of Person Centered Medicine

Most cited references 22

Mental Health Literacy: Past, Present, and Future.

Health literacy in childhood and youth: a systematic review of definitions and models

Mental health literacy measures evaluating knowledge, attitudes and help-seeking: a scoping review

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