The association of mental health literacy with mental well-being and help-seeking in young people: A systematic review and meta-analysis

PROBLEM

It is important to determine the relationship between mental health literacy (MHL), mental well-being and help seeking in young people in terms of guiding research and practices related to MHL.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

A literature scan of the databases of Web of Science, PubMed, Science Direct, EBSCOhost CINAHL Complete, Cochrane Library, Springer Link, Scopus, Wiley Online Library, Ovid, Taylor & Francis and ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global was conducted in May 2022 and April 2023 without any year limitations.

SAMPLE

A total of 12 studies with 4659 young people were included. Data synthesis was performed using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis (CMA) software. Pearson correlation coefficient (r) was used to calculate the effect size.

RESULTS

It was concluded that there was no correlation between MHL and mental well-being in young people (p > 0.05, r = 0.06, 95% CI = -0.05 to 0.16). A positive correlation was found between MHL with help seeking attitude (p < 0.01, r = 0.48, 95% CI = 0.30 to 0.63) and help-seeking intention (p < 0.01, r = 0.23, 95% CI = 0.12 to 0.34).

CONCLUSION

While there was a medium effect size between MHL and help seeking attitude in young people, there was a weak effect size between MHL and help seeking intention. No studies were found examining the relationship between MHL and help-seeking behavior in young people.

IMPLICATIONS

Nurses may provide support for young people in help seeking by giving education and counselling on MHL in schools and health institutions, and by creating reliable and easily accessible sources of information.

Problematic internet use in adolescents: A phenomenological study

WHAT IS KNOWN ON THE SUBJECT?: Problematic internet use (PIU) negatively affects adolescents' lives biopsychosocially. There is limited qualitative research examining the problem of PIU in adolescents. These studies focused more on the non-clinical population. Adolescents' perceptions of the internet, their thoughts, feelings and behaviours in situations where they can and cannot access the internet have rarely been examined. WHAT DOES THE PAPER ADD TO EXISTING KNOWLEDGE?: This research provides an in-depth look at the experiences of adolescents with PIU in a clinical population. Unlike previous studies, adolescents mentioned that they turned to the internet for reasons such as lack of activity, their need to spend time with their friends and better getting along with people they met on the internet. They also described a world without internet as apocalypse, desert and grave. In this study, a holistic emphasis was placed on the thoughts, feelings and behaviours of adolescents in situations where they could and could not access the internet. This may contribute especially to mental health nurses working in clinics in terms of understanding the thought-emotion and behaviour patterns of adolescents with PIU. Adolescents also stated that their lives were affected positively and negatively as a result of PIU. WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE?: Mental health nurses can use activity therapy, behaviour modification: social skills, coping enhancement, parent education: adolescent, self-awareness enhancement, cognitive restructuring, emotion and behaviour management interventions to reduce the risk of PIU and the problems it causes for adolescents. WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE?: Mental health nurses can use activity therapy, behaviour modification: social skills, coping enhancement, parent education: adolescent, self-awareness enhancement, cognitive restructuring, emotion and behaviour management interventions to reduce the risk of PIU and the problems it causes for adolescents.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Studies on problematic internet use (PIU) are mostly on the non-clinical population. Understanding the experiences of adolescents with PIU is critical in shaping nursing interventions and improving the quality of care.

AIMS

A comprehensive description of the experiences of adolescents with PIU.

METHODS

In the study, descriptive phenomenology design, one of the qualitative research methods, was used. Data were collected using a personal information form and a semi-structured interview form and analysed using Giorgi's phenomenological method (n = 11).

RESULTS

As a result of the content analysis, five main themes were identified: reasons of PIU, internet-related perceptions, experiences in accessing the internet, experiences in not being able to access the internet and consequences of internet use.

DISCUSSION

Different from previous studies, adolescents stated that they use the internet because of their lack of activity and their need to spend time with their friends. They stated that when they could not access the internet, they thought they could never live without the internet and started quarrel.

Suicide literacy in nurses: A cross-sectional study

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

This study is a cross-sectional study aiming to determine the suicide literacy level of nurses and to examine the relationship between nurses' suicide literacy and certain variables.

BACKGROUND

Suicide literacy in nurses is a factor which affects knowledge levels. The level of suicide literacy in nurses may affect the care given to patients and the behaviour of obtaining help in relation to themselves.

METHODS

The study was conducted with 348 nurses between January and March 2020 at a hospital in the city of Antalya in Turkey. A personal information form and the Literacy of Suicide Scale (LOSS) were used to collect data. Descriptive statistical methods were used in data analysis. Stepwise multiple linear regression analysis was performed to determine the predictors of suicide literacy. The STROBE checklist was followed for this cross-sectional study.

RESULTS

The nurses' mean score on LOSS was 11.08 ± 3.92. Significant predictors of suicide literacy in nurses were being single, working in the emergency department, having previous experience in the psychiatry clinic, not having a mental illness, having suicide attempts in the family, having previously obtained information on intervention on individuals at risk of suicide and stating that their sources of information on this topic were nursing education and the Internet. These variables explained 19.8% of the variance in suicide literacy.

CONCLUSIONS

The nurses' suicide literacy was at a low level. It is recommended that education programs on the care of patients at risk of suicide be set up for all nurses working in general clinics.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE

It is important to raise the levels of suicide literacy in nurses in order to provide better quality care to patients who are at risk of suicide. Also, raising levels of suicide literacy may strengthen nurses' behaviours in seeking help for themselves.