Mental Health Literacy for Students and Teachers

Abstract Mental health literacy (MHL) encompasses four components: understanding how to obtain and maintain good mental health, understanding mental illness and treatment, reducing stigma, and promoting help-seeking efficacy. MHL is foundational to mental health promotion, early identification/prevention and intervention. We have created a “School Friendly” MHL intervention, Mental Health and High School Curriculum Guide (the Guide), for secondary school students and teachers, designed to be embedded into the existing school curriculum. A number of cross-sectional studies and a randomized-controlled trial were undertaken to investigate its impact on knowledge, attitudes, and help-seeking efficacy among students (grades 9 and 10) and teachers in Canadian schools and other international educational jurisdictions. We also obtained feedback from educators who taught the Guide with regards to the content, lesson plans, and format of the Guide for its future revisions. All studies showed significant improvements of knowledge and attitudes among both students and teachers, as well as enhanced help-seeking efficacy among students as a result of delivering the Guide embedded into the school curriculum. Further, the impact of these changes was sustained at three-month follow-up. Teacher feedback demonstrated that they enjoyed teaching the Guide and they considered it to be a better approach to addressing youth mental health compared to other school-based interventions. The Guide may be a “School Friendly” approach to improving both student and teacher MHL, and building the foundation needed for improving mental health outcomes for young people.