Orygen Youth Health Research Centre, Centre for Youth Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.
J Affect Disord. 2010 Oct;126(1-2):278-81. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2010.03.011. Epub 2010 Apr 13.
Members of the public know about actions they can take to prevent major physical diseases, but there has been less attention to the public's capacity to take action to prevent mental disorders. Since mental disorders often have first onset during youth, young people's beliefs about prevention are of particular relevance.
Young people's prevention beliefs were assessed by a national telephone survey of 3746 Australian youth aged 12-25 years. To allow a comparison with professional beliefs, postal surveys were carried out with 470 GPs, 591 psychiatrists, 736 psychologists and 522 mental health nurses. Respondents were asked to rate the helpfulness of 9 potential strategies in relation to the prevention of four disorders: depression, depression with alcohol misuse, social phobia and psychosis.
Both young people and professionals believed that mental disorders could be prevented by physical activity, keeping contact with family and friends, avoiding use of substances, and making time for relaxing activities. However, professionals disagreed with young people about the benefits of avoiding stressful situations, particularly for social phobia. Professionals were also less optimistic about the prevention of psychosis than depression and anxiety.
The surveys assessed beliefs, but not actual use of preventive strategies.
Given the beliefs of young people and professionals that prevention is possible, there is fertile ground for health promotion in this area. However, young people need to be aware that avoiding stressful situations may not be helpful for anxiety.
公众了解可以采取哪些行动来预防重大身体疾病，但对于公众采取行动预防精神障碍的能力关注较少。由于精神障碍通常在年轻时首次发作，因此年轻人对预防的看法尤为重要。
通过对 3746 名 12-25 岁澳大利亚年轻人进行全国电话调查，评估了年轻人的预防信念。为了与专业信念进行比较，还对 470 名全科医生、591 名精神科医生、736 名心理学家和 522 名精神科护士进行了邮寄调查。要求受访者根据预防四种疾病（抑郁症、酒精滥用伴发抑郁症、社交恐惧症和精神病）的可能性，对 9 种潜在策略的有效性进行评分。
年轻人和专业人士都认为可以通过体育锻炼、保持与家人和朋友的联系、避免使用物质和腾出时间进行放松活动来预防精神障碍。然而，专业人士不同意年轻人关于避免紧张情况的好处的观点，尤其是对于社交恐惧症。与抑郁和焦虑相比，专业人士对预防精神病的乐观程度也较低。
调查评估了信念，但没有评估预防策略的实际使用情况。
鉴于年轻人和专业人士都认为预防是可能的，因此在这一领域进行健康促进有很大的潜力。然而，年轻人需要意识到避免紧张情况可能无助于焦虑症。
