Effect of health education program on improving knowledge and atitude towards mental health stigma and professional help-seeking among adolescents

Abstract

Background: Engaging adolescents in mental health education programs can markedly improve their knowledge, decrease stigma, and enhance professional help-seeking. Two-step study was carried out. The first step was applied to 416 secondary school students in two Egyptian Governorates, using an adapted version of a questionnaire used to survey beliefs and attitudes towards mental illness and professional help-seeking. The second step, a health education program, was implemented upon 224 students; they were classified into intervention and control groups. The program was done to improve their knowledge and attitude. Results: About 8% of participants had positive findings suggestive of mental illness; the commonest disorder was anxiety disorder (3.9%). Although most of the participants had a positive attitude towards a mentally ill person, 70.7% of them considered mentally ill persons dangerous, and 60.3% will be ashamed if they/their relatives have a mental illness. The main station of seeking help if having a mental trouble was friends (38.9%). The intervention succeeded to change the belief that mental illness is like any other illness from 46.4 to 96.4%. It decreased the belief that mental illness is an evil spirit from 38.4 to 6.3%. Attitude was improved after intervention for all items except in the point of marrying a person with mental illness. Help-seeking from family members or healthcare workers was significantly improved after the intervention. Conclusions: Anxiety was the commonest mental disorder among the studied group. Negative attitude and wrong beliefs can be changed with health education. Low professional help-seeking may arise the need for more effective professional interventions.