Centre for Community Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
Department of Psychiatry, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
Int J Soc Psychiatry. 2022 Jun;68(4):791-797. doi: 10.1177/00207640211006155. Epub 2021 Apr 10.
Mental Health Literacy (MHL) is the ability to recognize mental disorders, along with knowledge of professional help available, effective self-help strategies, skills to give support to others, and knowledge of how to prevent mental disorders. Adequate MHL is linked to better health-seeking behavior and management of mental illness.
To assess the MHL related to depression and anxiety among adolescents of age 15 to 19 years residing in Delhi.
A survey was conducted among adolescents in southeast Delhi. MHL was assessed using sex-matched vignettes of Common Mental Disorders (CMDs) like depression and anxiety. MHL was assessed under domains of identifications of disorders, help-seeking behavior, knowledge about prevention, and stigmatizing attitude toward the respective illness. Statistical analysis was done in STATA and percentage of participants with adequate MHL in various domains was calculated, and difference between various groups was examined using chi-square test.
A total of 491 adolescents participated (response rate of 87.2%) of whom a 50.3% were girls and 57.8% were 15 to 17 years of age. Only 50 (10.2%) participants identified depression vignette as that of depression and 51 (10.4%) identified vignette of anxiety disorder as the same. No statistically significant gender differential in MHL was seen ( value = .8). The stigmatizing attitude, assessed by asking a series of questions suggesting stigma toward the particular illness, was observed among almost all participants (depression -99.4%, and anxiety disorders -96.1%). 18.3% and 18.7% of participants reported correct knowledge about the prevention of depression and anxiety respectively. Four hundred and twenty-two (86%) identified the need to seek help for symptoms reported in vignettes. Of these, 234 (55%) preferred parents, and 62 (14.7%) look after friends for any help.
Adolescents residing in Delhi reported poor MHL for Common Mental Disorders. High stigma and poor help-seeking behavior was also observed among the participants toward CMDs.
心理健康素养（MHL）是指识别精神障碍的能力，以及了解可用的专业帮助、有效的自助策略、支持他人的技能以及预防精神障碍的知识。足够的 MHL 与更好的寻求健康行为和精神疾病管理有关。
评估德里 15 至 19 岁青少年的抑郁和焦虑相关 MHL。
在东南德里的青少年中进行了一项调查。使用常见精神障碍（CMD）的性别匹配情景片段（如抑郁和焦虑）评估 MHL。MHL 在以下领域进行评估：识别障碍、寻求帮助的行为、预防知识和对各自疾病的污名化态度。在 STATA 中进行统计分析，计算出各个领域中具有足够 MHL 的参与者的百分比，并使用卡方检验检查各个组之间的差异。
共有 491 名青少年（87.2%的回应率）参加了研究，其中 50.3%是女孩，57.8%是 15 至 17 岁。只有 50 名（10.2%）参与者将抑郁情景识别为抑郁，51 名（10.4%）参与者将焦虑障碍情景识别为同一障碍。在 MHL 方面，没有观察到性别差异（ 值=0.8）。通过提出一系列暗示对特定疾病的污名化的问题来评估的污名化态度，几乎所有参与者都存在（抑郁 -99.4%，焦虑障碍 -96.1%）。分别有 18.3%和 18.7%的参与者报告了关于预防抑郁和焦虑的正确知识。422 名（86%）参与者确定需要为情景片段中报告的症状寻求帮助。其中，234 名（55%）选择父母，62 名（14.7%）希望朋友照顾自己以获得任何帮助。
居住在德里的青少年报告对常见精神障碍的 MHL 较差。参与者对 CMD 也表现出高污名化和不良的寻求帮助行为。
