Use, acceptability and impact of booklets designed to support mental health self-management and help seeking in schools: results of a large randomised controlled trial in England
Open accessAbstract
Mental health booklets may provide a low-cost means of promoting mental health self-management and help seeking in schools. The aim of the study was to assess the (a) use, (b) acceptability and (c) impact of booklets for students in primary (10-11 years) and secondary school (12-13 years) alone and in conjunction with funding for targeted mental health support. This was a 2 × 2 factorial cluster randomized controlled trial, in which 846 schools in England were randomly allocated to receive/not receive: (1) booklets for students containing information on mental health self-management and help seeking, and (2) funding for mental health support as part of a national mental health initiative. 14,690 students (8139 primary, 6551 secondary) provided self-report on mental health, quality of life (baseline and 1 year follow-up) and help seeking (follow-up). (a) Approximately, 40 % primary school students and 20 % secondary school students reported seeing the booklets. (b) Of these, 87 % of primary school students reported that the booklet was 'very helpful' or 'quite helpful', compared with 73 % in secondary school. (c) There was no detectable impact of booklets on mental health, quality of life or help seeking, either alone or in conjunction with additional funding through the national mental health initiative. Lack of discernable impact of booklets underscores the need for caution in adopting such an approach. However, it is feasible that the impact was obscured by low uptake or that booklets may be more effective when used in a targeted way.
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Five studies developed programmes based on the notion that promoting mental health awareness could enhance mental health literacy and promote help-seeking.
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- Authors
- Sharpe, H., Patalay, P., Vostanis, P., Belsky, J., Humphrey, N., & Wolpert, M.
- Affiliations
- Anna Freud Centre (GB)
- University of Leicester (GB)
- University of California, Davis (US)
- University of Manchester (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Sharpe, Helen
- Venue
- European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
- Published
- 2016-07-21
- Volume
- 26
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 315-324
- ISSN
- 1018-8827 (ISSN-L)
- 1435-165X
- PMC
- PMC5323475
- OpenAlex
- W2505334051
- Cited by
- 23
- References
- 22
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 1
- FWCI
- 1.57
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Leicester Research Archive (University of Leicester) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Research Explorer (The University of Manchester) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Edinburgh Research Explorer (University of Edinburgh) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Department for Education
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health Treatment and Access
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Speech and Hearing › School Health and Nursing Education
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Keywords
- mental health self-management, help-seeking, school-based mental health promotion, student mental health, quality of life, elementary school students, high school students, mental health funding, acceptability
- MeSH terms
- Help-Seeking Behavior, Adolescent, Child, England, Female, Health Education, Health Promotion, Humans, Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice, Male, Mental Health, Pamphlets, Patient Acceptance of Health Care, Psychiatric Status Rating Scales, Quality of Life, Schools, Self Care, Students, Cluster Analysis, Process Assessment, Health Care
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