Facilitating Adolescents Understanding of Mental Health Difficulties
(a project funded by the PPP Healthcare Medical Trust)
Objectives
To explore the effects of a mental health teaching programme on pupils' understanding.
Design
Two group pre-test, post-test design. Experimental classes received a six-lesson teaching intervention on mental health; control classes did not.
Setting
Two UK secondary schools
Participants
14-15-year-old pupils, 149 in experimental school, 207 in control school.
Main outcome measures
Understanding measured at two time points, eight months apart, by a Mental Health Questionnaire (MHQ). Behavioural, emotional and relationship strengths and difficulties measured by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), a self-rating questionnaire with 5 scales: hyperactivity, emotional symptoms, conduct problems, peer problems and prosocial behaviour. Experimental school teachers and pupils were interviewed about the intervention.
Results
At re-test, pupils in the experimental classes showed significantly more sensitivity and empathy towards people experiencing mental health difficulties. They also used significantly fewer pejorative words to describe mental health difficulties than controls did. There was a significant reduction in SDQ scores on conduct problems and a significant increase on prosocial behaviour amongst experimental pupils in comparison with controls. Teachers expressed anxieties about their expertise, especially with regard to the topic of suicide. However, the pupils valued the intervention highly, in particular the lessons on suicide.
Conclusions
Teaching 14-15-year-olds about mental health difficulties reduces stigma by promoting positive attitudes and increasing knowledge, especially on highly sensitive issues like suicide. There is evidence that the intervention also reduces self-reported conduct problems and increases prosocial behaviour.
Download a copy of the full report (PDF - 179kB)
For further details please contact:
Professor Helen Cowie
European Institute of Health and Medical Sciences
University of Surrey
Stag Hill
Surrey
GU2 7TE
Tel: +44 (0)1483 689726
