The program evaluation of 'Go-To Educator Training' on educators' knowledge about and stigma toward mental illness in six Canadian provinces

Mental health literacy in secondary school teachers and interventions to improve it - a systematic review and narrative synthesis

BACKGROUND

Adolescent mental health problems have increased in prevalence. Teachers' Mental Health Literacy (MHL) may play an important role in public mental health prevention approaches. This systematic review and narrative synthesis aimed to identify what is known globally about the extent of secondary school teachers' MHL and the types and effectiveness of MHL interventions for secondary school teachers.

METHODS

PsycINFO, PubMed, ERIC, EBSCO-Psychological and behavioural sciences collection, Web of Science, and Google Scholar were searched to identify studies until 29/04/2024. Two independent reviewers screened the returns.

RESULTS

Twenty eligible studies were reviewed. Most intervention studies were from high-income countries and used a psycho-educative approach. Pre-intervention, teachers' levels of MHL were mixed across MHL domains. Post-intervention, increases in mental health knowledge and attitudes and decreases in mental health stigma were reported. Low use of standardised MHL measures, lack of randomised controlled trials, and lack of follow-up data affect evidence quality.

CONCLUSION

Interventions to improve secondary school teachers' MHL can be effective, at least in the short term. Evidence quality needs to be improved to inform recommendations on whether they should be part of a public mental health approach for adolescents.

Educational stakeholders' attitudes and knowledge about nonsuicidal self-injury among university students: A cross-national study

Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a commonly occurring, yet historically poorly understood, mental health concern among post-secondary students. The present study sought to identify the current knowledge needs of university stakeholders to inform training efforts around effective NSSI response and student support on university campuses.

Participants were 1,762 university students, staff, and student-staff (77% female) from seven universities in Canada, the USA, New Zealand, and Australia.

Participants completed an online survey about their attitudes and knowledge of both general mental health and NSSI.

University stakeholders reported significantly greater stigma toward NSSI than mental illness in general. Student-staff reported greater perceived knowledge and comfort, and demonstrated greater knowledge of NSSI, than students and staff.

Findings underscore the need for additional training and resources to reduce stigma and increase knowledge about NSSI on university campuses internationally.

Child and youth mental health and wellbeing before and after returning to in-person learning in secondary schools in the context of COVID-19

Background

As children reintegrate with in-person classroom learning after COVID-19, health and education institutions should remain mindful of students' mental health. There is a paucity of data on changes in students' mental health before, during and after their return to in-person classroom learning.

Methods

We collected and analyzed data on self-reported wellbeing, general mental health, perceived stress, and help-seeking attitudes from grade 7-12 students in a Catholic school division in Canada (n = 258 at baseline; n = 132 at follow-up). Outcomes were compared according to demographic differences such as gender, grade level, experience accessing mental health services, and presence of support staff between baseline and follow-up. Effects of time points and each demographic variable on each outcome and on the prediction of students' mental health were also analyzed.

Results

No significant differences were apparent for outcomes between baseline and follow-up. However, specific subgroups: junior high students, male students, students who had not accessed mental health services, and students who had access to support-staff had better outcomes than their counterparts. From baseline to follow-up, male students reported mental health decline [Mean = 11.79, SD = 6.14; Mean = 16.29, SD = 7.47, F(1, 333) = 8.36, p < 0.01]; students who had not accessed mental health services demonstrated greater stress [Mean = 20.89, SD = 4.09; Mean = 22.28, SD = 2.24, F(1, 352) = 6.20, p < 0.05]; students who did not specify a binary gender reported improved general mental health [Mean = 19.87, SD = 5.89; Mean = 13.00, SD = 7.40, F(1, 333) = 8.70, p < 0.01], and students who did not have access to support-staff improved help-seeking attitudes [Mean = 22.32, SD = 4.62; Mean = 24.76, SD = 4.81; F(1, 346) = 5.80, p < 0.05]. At each time point, students indicated parents, guardians, and close friends as their most-preferred help-seeking sources. High stress predicted lower wellbeing at baseline, but higher wellbeing at follow-up.

Conclusion

Students presented stable mental health. Subgroups with decreased mental health may benefit from extra mental health support through building capacity among teachers and health care professionals to support students following public health emergencies.

Scaling up community-delivered mental health support and care: A landscape analysis

Introduction

The mental health crisis has caused widespread suffering and has been further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Marginalized groups are especially affected, with many concerns rooted in social determinants of mental health. To stem this tide of suffering, consideration of approaches outside the traditional biomedical model will be necessary. Drawing from task-sharing models of mental health care that have been pioneered in low-resource settings, community-initiated care (CIC) represents a potentially promising collection of approaches. This landscape analysis seeks to identify examples of CIC that have been implemented outside of the research context, with the aim of identifying barriers and facilitators of scale up.

Methods

A narrative review approach was used for this landscape analysis in which the PubMed database was searched and further supplemented with Google Scholar. Promising programs were then discussed over multiple rounds of meetings with the research team, consisting of collaborators with varied experiences in mental health. Using the selection criteria and feedback derived from group meetings, a final list of programs was identified and summarized according to common characteristics and features.

Results

The initial PubMed search yielded 16 results, supplemented by review of the first 100 entries in Google Scholar. Through 5 follow-up meetings among team members, consensus was reached on a final list of 9 programs, which were grouped into three categories based on similar themes and topics: (1) approaches for the delivery of psychosocial interventions; (2) public health and integrative approaches to mental health; and (3) approaches for addressing youth mental health. Key facilitators to scale up included the importance of sustainable financing and human resources, addressing social determinants and stigma, engaging diverse stakeholders, leveraging existing health infrastructure, using sustainable training models, ensuring cultural relevance and appropriateness, and leveraging digital technologies.

Discussion

This landscape analysis, though not an exhaustive summary of the literature, describes promising examples of efforts to scale up CIC outside of the research context. Going forward, it will be necessary to mobilize stakeholders at the community, health system, and government levels to effectively promote CIC.

Attitudes and beliefs of Tunisian High-School teachers about schizophrenia: The impact of vignette gender

BACKGROUND

Teachers have a crucial active role in provision of mental health services to students and fighting against mental health stigma in schools, hence their attitudes and beliefs toward mental illness should be assessed.

METHOD

We carried-out a cross-sectional study with a non-probabilistic sample of 304 higher secondary school teachers. We used a structured questionnaire in which a vignette describing an individual with schizophrenia was presented, and was followed by a series of stigma-related questions.

RESULTS

A substantial proportion of teachers endorsed stressful life events (79.6%) as a cause of schizophrenia, elicited feelings of discomfort (41.4%) and incomprehension (41.1%) with the person displaying symptoms of schizophrenia, and agreed that the person's condition will deteriorate even more (45.4%). Teachers perceived that the person described in the vignette is dependent on others, lacks will, is different from others and is unpredictable in 65.1%, 59.2%, 55.6%, and 49.7% of cases, respectively. In addition, 38.5% and 34.2% of teachers recommended turning to traditional healers and to a Sheikh or an imam of a mosque, respectively. Regarding gender effects, females with schizophrenia were regarded as more likely to be unable to make her own decisions and to be dependent on others than males, and were less likely to be recommended for seeking help from a family physician or to consult a psychiatric hospital than males.

CONCLUSION

In the light of our findings, raising awareness of teachers of the impact of mental health issues on students should be prioritized in high schools in Tunisia.