Promoting Mental Health Help-Seeking Behaviors by Mental Health Literacy Interventions in Secondary Education? Needs and Perspectives of Adolescents and Educational Professionals

Lindy Beukema, Janne M. Tullius (), Lies Korevaar, Jacomijn Hofstra, Sijmen A. Reijneveld and Andrea F. de Winter
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Lindy Beukema: Department of Health Sciences, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Antonius Deusinglaan 1/FA10, 9713 AV Groningen, The Netherlands
Janne M. Tullius: Department of Health Sciences, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Antonius Deusinglaan 1/FA10, 9713 AV Groningen, The Netherlands
Lies Korevaar: Research and Innovation Centre for Rehabilitation, Hanze University of Applied Sciences, 9747 AA Groningen, The Netherlands
Jacomijn Hofstra: Research and Innovation Centre for Rehabilitation, Hanze University of Applied Sciences, 9747 AA Groningen, The Netherlands
Sijmen A. Reijneveld: Department of Health Sciences, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Antonius Deusinglaan 1/FA10, 9713 AV Groningen, The Netherlands
Andrea F. de Winter: Department of Health Sciences, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Antonius Deusinglaan 1/FA10, 9713 AV Groningen, The Netherlands

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 19, 1-13

Abstract: Mental health literacy (MHL) interventions in secondary schools may help to improve competencies that adolescents require to stay mentally healthy and seek help if mental health problems arise. These MHL interventions should be tailored to the needs of adolescents and educational professionals (EPs) to reach sustainable implementation and long-term effectiveness. However, evidence is lacking on these needs. Thus, our aim was to explore their experiences with, and perspectives on, mental health help seeking and needs regarding MHL interventions. We performed online focus group discussions and interviews with adolescents ( n = 21; 13–19 years) and EPs ( n = 12) and analyzed the data using directed content analysis. We identified three themes related to mental health help seeking: (1) Limited MHL competencies of adolescents, (2) Limited competencies of EP to provide mental health support, and (3) Limited mental health promotion in the school environment. We further identified three themes regarding MHL interventions: (1) Addressing basic mental health knowledge and skills, (2) Interactive and easily accessible, and (3) Sustainable implementation. Improving the MHL competencies of adolescents and EPs, and creating a mental health-literate school environment can promote adolescents’ mental health help seeking. Our findings highlight the importance of developing MHL interventions that are tailored to both adolescents’ and EPs needs.

Keywords: mental health literacy intervention; adolescents; help-seeking; secondary education; educators; qualitative research (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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