Adolescents’ Empowerment for Mental Health Literacy in School: A Pilot Study on ProLiSMental Psychoeducational Intervention

Tânia Morgado, Luís Loureiro, Maria Antónia Rebelo Botelho, Maria Isabel Marques, José Ramón Martínez-Riera and Pedro Melo
Additional contact information
Tânia Morgado: Centro Hospitalar e Universitário de Coimbra—Hospital Pediátrico, Av. Afonso Romão, 3000-062 Coimbra, Portugal
Luís Loureiro: Health Sciences Research Unit: Nursing, Escola Superior de Enfermagem de Coimbra, Av. Bissaya Barreto, 3004-011 Coimbra, Portugal
Maria Antónia Rebelo Botelho: Escola Superior de Enfermagem de Lisboa, Av. Dom João II, Lote 4.69.01, 1990-096 Lisboa, Portugal
Maria Isabel Marques: Health Sciences Research Unit: Nursing, Escola Superior de Enfermagem de Coimbra, Av. Bissaya Barreto, 3004-011 Coimbra, Portugal
José Ramón Martínez-Riera: Departamento Enfermeria Comunitaria, Medicina Preventiva y Salud Publica e Historia de la Ciencia, Universidad de Alicante, E-03080 Alicante, Spain
Pedro Melo: Centre for Interdisiplinary Research in Health, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, 4169-005 Porto, Portugal

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 15, 1-14

Abstract: Adolescence is a critical life phase for mental health and anxiety an emerging challenge for adolescents. Psychoeducational interventions to promote mental health literacy (MHL) on anxiety in adolescents are needed. This study aimed to test the primary outcome of a future full-scale trial: improvement of adolescents’ anxiety MHL components on recognition, prevention strategies, and self-help strategies. A sample of 38 adolescents, 24 (63.2%) females and 14 (36.8%) males, with an average age of 14.50 years (SD = 0.89) participated in this study. Each class was allocated to the intervention group (IG, n = 21) or the waiting list control group (WLCG, n = 17) with single-blinded randomization. MHL was assessed using the QuALiSMental. The ProLiSMental psychoeducational intervention consists of four or eight weekly sessions of 90 or 45 min for adolescents, using different active pedagogical methods and techniques. There also are initial and final sessions with adolescents, legal guardians, and teachers. There was a significant improvement with a small to relatively strong effect size in many dimensions of anxiety MHL components. This study suggests the progression to the full-scale trial and values the important role of mental health and psychiatric nurses in the adolescents’ empowerment for MHL in schools.

Keywords: adolescent; health literacy; health education; mental health; anxiety; mental health nursing; school nursing; pilot study (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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