Service Evaluation of Headucate’s Educational Intervention to Reduce Stigma and Increase Mental Health Literacy Among School Children

Background With one in ten young people being affected by ill mental health and stigma regularly cited as a factor affecting access to early intervention services, focussing resources on school based stigma reduction strategies seems prudent. ‘Headucate’, a student society, designed a 50 minute workshop which aims to increase mental health literacy and decrease stigma. Methodology Repeated, cross sectional surveys were carried out at three time points; 1) immediately before (n=77), 2) Immediately after (n=81) and 3) three months post workshop (n=73). The surveys were paper based versions of the Reported Intended Behaviours Score (RIBS) and Mental Health Knowledge Scale (MAKS) utilising a social distance scale. Results Four year 10 classed (pupils aged 14-15) were recruited. Post hoc t-tests were carried out when one-way ANOVAS were significant. Disorder knowledge (from MAKS) and intended contact (from RIBS) significantly increased between time points one and two (p Analysis of the question pertaining to knowing where to access help showed a statistically significant increase (p Discussion Headucate workshops offer a low resource option which is well accepted by students. Like other school based stigma reduction strategies, a dramatic increase was seen between immediately before and after indicating that the workshop resonates with the pupils, but there was little sustained change in attitudes.