Recent findings in the effectiveness testing of an interdisciplinary training program in mental health promotion.

Participants of the Hungarian training program in mental health promotion described in this paper are human services professionals (mainly education and health professionals, religious and social workers). The aims of the three-year graduate program include the development of students' professional expertise with a body of knowledge of mental health promotion on the individual, community and social levels and with a mental-health-promoting attitude. Testing the effectiveness of the program must measure a change in this attitude rather than an increase in academic knowledge. The instrument here presented is based on a case description, relevant to the students' occupation. Content analysis methods and a special scoring system can be employed in the interpretation and evaluation of the answers to the mostly open-ended questions. The longitudinal study presents a comparative analysis of the four occupational groups named above. In addition to results, the paper also discusses difficulties and suggestions for further research.