Promoting Mental Health Help-Seeking Behaviors by Mental Health Literacy Interventions in Secondary Education? Needs and Perspectives of Adolescents and Educational Professionals
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Study Design
2.2. Participants
2.3. Study Procedure and Measures
2.3.1. Adolescents
2.3.2. Educational Professionals
2.4. Data Analysis
3. Results
3.1. Sample Characteristics
3.2. I: Experiences with and Perspectives on Mental Health Help-Seeking in School
3.2.1. Theme 1: Limited MHL Competencies of Adolescents
3.2.2. Theme 2: Limited Competencies of Educators to Provide Mental Health Support
3.2.3. Theme 3: Limited Mental Health Promotion in the School Environment
3.3. II: Needs Regarding MHL Interventions in Secondary Education
3.3.1. Theme 1: Addressing Basic Mental Health Knowledge and Skills
3.3.2. Theme 2: Interactive and Easily Accessible
3.3.3. Theme 3: Sustainable Implementation
4. Discussion
4.1. Experiences with and Perspectives on Mental Health Help-Seeking in School
4.2. Needs Regarding MHL Interventions in Secondary Education
4.2.1. Strengths and Limitations
4.2.2. Implications and Recommendations
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Main Themes | Quotes Adolescents | Quotes Educational Professionals |
---|---|---|
Limited MHL competencies of adolescents | “Because they think their situation is not as bad as others’, and that they think they are overreacting.” (A3) | “I think that students themselves aren’t really aware of it, either. If students aren’t even aware themselves that they are about to sink into a depression.” (EP12, educator and mentor 1) |
Limited competencies of educators to provide mental health support | “I wouldn’t recommend talking to someone at school. To talk about it, yes, but not at our school. They are just not very good with these things.” (A8) | “I wouldn’t say that I am very good at identifying certain problems. If it’s about ADHD, ADD and ASD, I can do that relatively easily. [..] But if we’re talking for example about anxiety disorders, depression or perhaps even eating disorders... [I am not capable to identify those].” (EP10, educator and mentor) “The average teacher is also not trained for this.” (EP3, coach/trainer) |
Limited mental health promotion in the school environment | “There is probably someone at our school for this (next to your mentor), but even after seven years I honestly have no idea who that is.” (A3) “I noticed that myself, when my mentor 1 told the class that there was test anxiety training. The whole class started to mumble a little bit about how that was nonsense, et cetera and that they all didn’t need that. […] I finally signed myself up for the training but started doubting it because of all the comments from the class.” (A5) “Mental health problems and invisible physical problems are so badly accepted. People don’t understand that it’s not ‘just in your head’ when you have a depression. You also don’t say that asthma is ‘just in your lungs’.” (A4) | “At a certain point, as an educator and as mentor 1, you have to know your limits of what you can do. […] You are not a care provider in that sense. That is also not our expertise. So, I think that there is also a limit to where you can help.” (EP2, educator) “I think it’s also time pressure and workload. I think a lot of teachers already have so much to do and then wonder where they have to get time from [to pay attention to mental health issues of students]. People are afraid that it will come with a lot of extra work.” (EP5, educator) “The knowledge transfer is so important. The Ministry already asks a lot from schools; a lot is just required. And the culture, at least at our school, also focuses so much on studying for grades, showing progress. You can’t express the social-emotional [progress] in grades.” (EP4, educator) |
Main Themes | Quotes Adolescents | Quotes Educational Professionals |
---|---|---|
Addressing basic mental health knowledge and skills | “[Learning] about how you can help someone, how you can recognize that someone is dealing with something, and what kind of problems you can have.” (A14) “Not only students should be taught about mental health, also the teachers need to be informed better. So that they can also recognize the signs that may point to depression, anxiety or stress, etc.” (A5) | “Not even about disorders, but just simply about who you are and how you are feeling, because that’s where it often starts. And it should be structural; not just for six or eight weeks, no, the whole time they’re in school here with us.” (EP4, educator) “That it’s normal to be sad or stressed sometimes and learning how to cope with that.” (EP9, educator) |
Interactive and easily accessible | “It should not become one big show. Mental health problems are serious, but by making it really dramatic the barrier will just be higher, and that could trigger negative experiences in some students. […] It should be really factual, I think. Or a type of class like philosophy. The subject matter is presented really factual, and afterwards the students that have interest in the topic can discuss it in the classroom.” (A4) “Maybe examples of personal stories of people who have had psychological problems. Personal stories are captivating to hear and can work inspiring.” (A1) | “Teachers like to be served bit-sized chunks with programs like this and like to serve those themselves. Or at least, I think that’s how it should be done.” (EP2, educator) |
Sustainable implementation. | “I would say once every two months, but also monthly checkups on the students. And that there are also projects about this topic.” (A15) “[…] For example, during a class like civics class, or just during the mentor* hour. […] Every week is a bit excessive, but just some repetition occasionally and starting the conversation about it.” (A16) | “I would make it a regular course in school, a part of the regular education. It [mental health problems] is taking up more space in our job and it would be a good solution to also train teachers.” (EP8, support coordinator) “It should be a fixed aspect of the teacher education, and it should not be an afterthought.” (EP4, educator) |
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Beukema, L.; Tullius, J.M.; Korevaar, L.; Hofstra, J.; Reijneveld, S.A.; de Winter, A.F. Promoting Mental Health Help-Seeking Behaviors by Mental Health Literacy Interventions in Secondary Education? Needs and Perspectives of Adolescents and Educational Professionals. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 11889. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191911889
Beukema L, Tullius JM, Korevaar L, Hofstra J, Reijneveld SA, de Winter AF. Promoting Mental Health Help-Seeking Behaviors by Mental Health Literacy Interventions in Secondary Education? Needs and Perspectives of Adolescents and Educational Professionals. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2022; 19(19):11889. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191911889
Chicago/Turabian StyleBeukema, Lindy, Janne M. Tullius, Lies Korevaar, Jacomijn Hofstra, Sijmen A. Reijneveld, and Andrea F. de Winter. 2022. "Promoting Mental Health Help-Seeking Behaviors by Mental Health Literacy Interventions in Secondary Education? Needs and Perspectives of Adolescents and Educational Professionals" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19, no. 19: 11889. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191911889