Mental health literacy: empowering the community to take action for better mental health

“While professional supports play an important role in the provision of mental health care, consistent with other studies, our findings highlight the important role of families and friends in this space (Coates 2016; Jorm 2012).”

“…countries will first experience a mental health disorder during their adolescence and early adulthood – a time when they are also most likely to be engaged in higher education or postsecondary studies (Kessler et al. 2005; MacKean 2011; Reavley and Jorm 2010; Reavley, McCann, and Jorm 2012).”

“However, recognition of mental illness in adolescents is often delayed because they are less likely than the general population to seek help or receive treatment for mental illness (Jorm, 2012).”

“Many mental health problems have their onset in adolescence or early adulthood, and if left untreated, can result in more frequent and severe episodes of ill-health throughout the lifespan [4-7].”

“Although the connotation of MHL keeps evolving, the original definition proposed by Jorm is the most classic and comprehensive one (5).”

“According to several studies, MHFA participants have an increased ability to identify disorders such as depression and schizophrenia (Jorm, 2012; Jorm, Kitchener, Sawyer, Scales, & Cvetkovski, 2010; Jorm et al., 2005b; Kitchener & Jorm, 2004; Minas, Colucci, & Jorm, 2009; O’Reilly, Bell, Kelly, &…”

“Responses to ultra-short assessments of anxiety and depression reflect respondents’ understanding of the terms [19].”

“All of the above would contribute to carrying out individual and group targeted interventions to prevent depression [27, 28].”

“Researchers have found that general literacy about and knowledge of mental health is directly associated with access to mental health services in the general population (Jorm, 2012; Jorm et al., 2006)—however, very few studies to date have examined public perception of specific psychological treatments and whether pro…”

“Research suggests that a child with a mental health disorder who seeks help from a mental health professional is less likely to continue to have mental health problems into adulthood (Jorm 2012; Cannon et al. 2013).”

“This includes effective self-help strategies for mild mental problems and first-aid skills to help others (Jorm, 2012).”

“MHL has been defined as the ability to recognize mental health problems, knowledge of mental health, resilience building strategies and appropriate help-seeking behaviors (Jorm, 2012; Riebschleger et al., 2017; Morgan et al., 2018; Bale et al., 2020).”

“, “knowledge and beliefs about mental disorders which aid their recognition, management or prevention,” is foundational for improving access to care and reducing stigma related to mental illness [4, 5].”

“Low impact on mental health could be based on the fact that COVID-19 is a physical health threat and usually the public from developing countries is not aware of their mental health and more focused on the physical aspect of health only especially during the epidemic [18].”

“Mental health literacy was defined as knowledge and beliefs about mental disorders that aid in their recognition, management, and prevention (Jorm, 2012).”

“As the government of many countries now include the need to improve MHL in their mental health plans, it is important to ensure that the ED field does not miss out on developments in this regard, as has happened with various national mental health surveys and health promotion campaigns (Jorm, 2012; Mond, 2015).”

“Mental health literacy has been carried out throughout the world, but few have been evaluated (Jorm, 2012).”

“The first vignette described a female adolescent (i.e., Linlin) with symptoms of bulimia (Hart, 2010), and the second depicted a female adolescent (i.e., Wenwen) with symptoms of depression (Jorm, Morgan, & Wright, 2010; Olsson & Kennedy, 2010; Yap, Reaveley, & Jorm, 2012).”

“Mental health literacy initiatives and awareness campaigns aimed at educating the public about mental illness, its causes, and available treatments options are considered valuable tools in the reduction of stigma and in the encouragement of more appropriate help-seeking behavior (Jorm, 2012; Kelly et al., 2007; Wahlbe…”

“There has been plenty of evidence that mental health literacy enhances mental health service use (Corrigan, 2004; Gabriel & Violato, 2010a; Jorm, 2012; Kitchener & Jorm, 2002, 2004; Morawska et al., 2013; Rusch et al., 2011; Wood & Wahl, 2006; Wright et al., 2007).”

“…how to achieve and maintain positive mental health, understanding mental disorders and their treatment, reducing the stigma associated with mental disorders, and improving self-help and helping others [14–17] (Jorm et al., 1997; Jorm, 2012; Kutcher, Bagnell and Wei Y, 2015; Kajawu et al., 2016).”

“MHL programmes in schools typically focus on educating and changing beliefs and attitudes about mental health difficulties to aid recognition, appropriate support, management, and prevention [27–29].”

“A wide variety of disorders have been considered in the MHL literature, with depression and schizophrenia being the most widely and frequently investigated [18, 20].”

“For example, research shows that the provision of mental health information to a person increases the likelihood that they will seek help and adhere to treatment, and improves the prognosis and selfmanagement of mental health problems [17, 18].”

“Jorm proposed that greater MHL allows individuals to take action to improve both their own mental health and that of others in the community (Jorm, 2012).”

“In this study, those 18 years were excluded as minors’ mental healthcare-seeking is partly dependent on their care-givers [38].”

“Previous literature has pointed to the potential for school-based mental health literacy programmes to decrease stigma in communities (Jorm, 2012) and both of the teacher-led mental health literacy interventions reviewed reported positive outcomes for increasing student and staff knowledge on…”

“These barriers include self-and social stigma; concerns about confidentiality and trust; cultural beliefs against treatment and preference for informal sources of help; cost and transportation problems; lack of cultural and linguistic adaptation of services; and experiences of group-based discrimination (Cheng et al.,…”

“The ability of young people to identify a set of signs and symptoms as a mental disorder may be a facilitator of professional help seeking and early intervention.(1) In the case of psychotic disorders, such as schizophrenia, recognition of the disorder by others may also be important, particularly when the young perso…”

“Poor mental health literacy is a major barrier to seeking help and receiving effective treatment (Jorm, 2012).”

“This is corroborated by the low uptake of mental health services and treatments amongst the general population (Jorm, 2012).”

“This mental health knowledge is considered to facilitate taking appropriate action to benefit one’s own or another person’s mental health (Jorm, 2012; Leighton, 2009, Smith & Shochet, 2011).”

“Relatedly, research in both organizational and educational settings has demonstrated the importance and efficacy of preventative mental health interventions (Kalra et al., 2012; Jorm, 2012).”

“…five components: the recognition of problems and mental disorders; knowledge regarding available professionals and treatments; knowledge of effective self-help strategies; knowledge of mental disorder prevention; and knowledge and skills to provide support and first aid to others (Jorm, 2012).”

“org campaigns and mental health first aid trainings (Jorm, 2012).”

“The finding concerning alcohol consumption highlights the particular concern raised by Jorm (2012) that self- help measures are often used in lieu of professional assistance for symptom relief and better mental health.”

“Other people may simply be unaware about the nature of mental disorders and how to manage or prevent them (Jorm, 2012).”

“This study explored one of three general sections of the pilot model of service practice that was developed, which related to the aim of this study, using the perspectives of consumers, alongside others who had undertaken the SPS service [12,15,29-31].”

“Mental health literacy is defined as “knowledge and beliefs about mental disorders which aid their recognition, management or prevention” (14).”

“MHL is known to enable mental health help-seeking across a variety of populations (Cotton et al., 2006; Jorm, 2012), and particularly among higher education students (Cheng et al., 2018; Gorczynski et al., 2017; Kim & Zane, 2016; Smith & Shochet, 2011).”

“Based on the definitions proposed by Jorm [2] and Kutcher et al. [3], Chao et al. [4] added help-seeking attitude as a component of MHL, because it was found to be a powerful predictor of help-seeking behavior [5].”

“Each participant was presented with three vignettes and asked to respond to a set of six multiple-choice questions based on Jorm’s model [41] of MHL to”

“Mental health literacy is the knowledge of mental health, including symptoms of mental illness and positive mental health actions, how to seek help and support, and how to maintain one’s mental health (Bale et al., 2020; Jorm, 2012, 2020; Jorm et al., 1997; Kutcher et al., 2016).”

“This difference in speci fi city may explain the discrepancy between the lack of association found here and the link between mental health knowledge and help-seeking found previously (Cometto, 2014; Jorm, 2012).”

“Mental health literacy may be defined as the knowledge and beliefs about mental problems and disorders which allow for their recognition, management (in the sense of self-care) and prevention ( Jorm, 2012; Loureiro & Abrantes, 2014; Jorm, 2014).”

“The social networks of mentally ill persons must possess appropriate mental health first aid knowledge, as they may play important roles with regard to helping these persons to recognise their problem, providing them social support and influencing their help-seeking practices [23].”

“Previous research identified low mental health literacy (MHL) as one of the primary reasons for the limited use of mental health services among ethnic minorities (Jorm, 2012).”

“and improving mental health resilience amongst youths [5,6].”

“While mental health literacy has been identified as a broad solution to improving mental illness identification (Jorm, 2012), in the case of eating disorders, it may be even more essential as it serves to fight against societal norms that praise thinness, vilify fatness, and embrace diet culture.”

“Masyarakat melakukan upaya pencegahan bagi kepentingan diri sendiri maupun keluarganya, dan layanan kesehatan mental berkontribusi dalam memberikan manfaat pada masyarakat.(10) Keberadaan pelayanan kesehatan jiwa sangat diperlukan untuk meningkatkan pengendalian penyakit gangguan jiwa yang prevalensinya semakin mening…”

“The general public’s MHL is generally low even in developed countries (Jorm et al., 1997; Jorm, 2012; Kutcher et al., 2016) and developing countries such as China (Jiang et al., 2020), and thus, enhancing MHL is of great significance.”

“While MHL is crucial in addressing mental illness issues, studies have shown low levels of MHL in a diverse range of populations, including a lack of knowledge about prevention, development, and feasible treatments for mental illness and how to seek, help, or assist individuals with mental health problems (6, 15, 25).”

“Knowledge about mental health disorders, specifically their origin, course, treatment options, and dangerousness, has been pinpointed as an important factor contributing to lower levels of stigmatizing attitudes and beliefs (Hinshaw and Stier, 2008; Jorm, 2012).”

“…that Chinese adolescents mostly hold negative attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help, media publicity (Harman & Heath, 2017; Jorm, 2012) and education on identifying psychological disorders (e.g., depression and anxiety), improving perceptions of psychological help-seeking,…”

“Early recognition and treatment of mental disorders may improve long-term outcomes; however, most people do not seek professional help or delay seeking help for many years (Jorm, 2012; Reavley & Jorm, 2011).”

“Research examining mental health literacy has indicated that the public lacks knowledge related to prevention, recognition, and how to help individuals with mental health problems (Jorm, 2012).”

“Similar to the definition of HL, mental HL is defined as knowledge and beliefs about mental disorders that aid their recognition, management, or prevention (Jorm, 2012).”

“After each vignette, they were asked to respond to a set of six multiple-choice questions (see Supplementary material, Appendix A) based on Jorm’s (2012) model of mental health literacy to assess their ability to recognize the disorder and their knowledge and beliefs about causes, selfhelp interventions, sources of pr…”

“Co-production is not just about how services users engage with the state, but also how they develop user autonomy and positive risk taking (Bazemore and Erbe 2003; Jorm 2012).”

“Mental Health Literacy (MHL) was first defined [20] as ‘knowledge and beliefs about mental disorders which aid their recognition, management or prevention’ which includes aspects such as: 1) the ability to recognise specific disorders; 2) knowledge and beliefs about risk factors and causes; 3) knowledge and beliefs ab…”

“With the aim of improving the recognition of mental health illnesses and psychosocial distress in the general public, the concept of ‘‘mental health literacy’’ was introduced(15) and refers to the ability of a person to recognize the symptoms of mental illnesses and be aware of the self-treatment and professional help…”

“A number of factors that could have influenced the mental health program results including marketing, content and quality, pre-existing participant mental health [37], or mental health literacy [38].”