This document mainly explores 4 primary sources (links below) that review school-based intervention programs and the impact of mental health literacy programs; an additional 30+ studies are referenced (citations below).

• Table of Contents

What is Mental Health Literacy (MHL?)

<aside> ℹ️ Mental health literacy is defined as “the knowledge and beliefs about mental disorders which aid their recognition, management or prevention” (Jorm et al., 1997).

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Why school-based interventions and MHL are important

• Interventions that prevent mental disorders and promote mental wellbeing are important ways to reduce the health, social and economic burden of mental disorders (Arango et al., 2018).
• Schools are particularly important as a setting for interventions – most children and young people spend a large amount of their time at school, and school staff are often the first port of call for children and young people in need of help and advice about their MH (Abdinasir, 2019).
• Schools can reach children and young people from marginalized groups who experience higher rates of mental disorders (Green et al., 2005).
• Schools can improve the overall accessibility of MH services (Thorley, 2016).
• Teens want schools to play a big role in their mental health, and they trust the information there (NAMI Poll 2022)
  • 2 in 3 agree schools should teach about what mental health is, including where and how to seek treatment
  • 4 in 5 who seek mental health information from teachers say they trust their teachers and other adults at their school to provide it
• Schools also provide a good opportunity for MH education, as children lack knowledge of mental disorders and MH stigma can develop early, with children often associating mental disorders with unpredictability and violence (Lovett, Tamkin, & Fletcher, 2011).
• The low perceived need and attitudinal barriers were found to be the main barriers to MH treatment, so improving MHL and reducing stigma may help overcome these barriers and increase access and use of MH services when needed (Andrade et al., 2014; Mojtabai et al., 2011).
• High MHL has several advantages such as prevention from the disease, early diagnosis of symptoms, and performing the necessary interventions to reduce symptoms of mental disorder (Marcus et al., 2012).
• Research has shown that high mental health literacy significantly promotes help-seeking (Jorm et al., 2000; Rüsch et al., 2011; Bonabi et al., 2016) and help-outreach (Hadlaczky et al., 2014; Rossetto et al., 2016), as it facilitates the initial problem recognition (Cauce et al., 2002).

Systematic review of school-based interventions to improve MHL (updated 2022)

<aside> ℹ️ In 2022, the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge looked at 21 studies looking at 20 unique school-based interventions and reviewed how these interventions impacted MHL and reduced mental health stigma

Takeaways:

• “School-based interventions can improve mental health literacy and reduce stigma in the short term; however, refresher interventions may be required to sustain the positive outcomes in the long term.”
• “Interventions comprising mental health education followed by contact with a person with lived experience of mental disorders may be most effective. Live contact and filmed contact are equally effective.”

(Ma et al., 2022)

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Criteria for examining different school-based intervention studies

The Cambridge study chose to focus only on reviewing school-based interventions that fit in the following criteria and involved mental health literacy or stigma reduction.