Mental health literacy about depression: a survey of portuguese youth
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: Depression is a common disorder in adolescents and young adults, but help seeking is low. Mental health literacy about depression is a key concept to plan interventions for improving help seeking. This study aimed to evaluate youth mental literacy about depression in order to design school-based interventions. METHODS: During 2012, a survey was conducted with a stratified cluster sample of 4938 Portuguese young people between 14 and 24 years of age. Following the presentation of a vignette describing depression, a series of questions was asked concerning: recognition of the disorder; knowledge of professional help and treatments available; knowledge of effective self-help strategies; knowledge and skills to give first aid and support to others; and knowledge of how to prevent this disorder. RESULTS: In response to an open-ended question, around a quarter of the participants failed to recognize depression in the vignette. When asked about the potential helpfulness of various people, most of the participants considered mental health professionals, family and friends to be helpful. However, teachers, social workers and a helpline were less likely to be considered as helpful. With regard to medications, vitamins received more positive views than psychotropics. Some interventions were frequently rated as likely to be helpful, whereas for others there was a lack of knowledge about their effectiveness. A positive finding is that alcohol and tobacco consumption were seen as harmful. When asked about mental health first aid strategies, participants supported the value of listening to the person in the vignette and advising professional help, but some unhelpful strategies were commonly endorsed as well. CONCLUSION: Deficits were found in some aspects of depression literacy in Portuguese youth. Therefore intervention in this area is needed.
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Friends offered opportunities for peer learning, particularly around communicating, modelling, negotiating, or managing mental healthcare, as well as empathy, connection and care.
“Friends offered opportunities for peer learning, particularly around communicating, modelling, negotiating, or managing mental healthcare, as well as empathy, connection and care (Eigenhuis et al. 2021; Loureiro et al. 2013; Lubman et al. 2016; Medlow et al. 2010; Westberg et al. 2020).”
From "You Have the Choice of Whether You're Going to Get Help or Attempt Suicide": Exploring the Process and Impact of Mental Health Help-Seeking with Young People (16–25 Years) (2025) · cites this paper as Loureiro et al. 2013
The Results section, “Knowledge and skills to give first aid and support to others” (page unavailable), reports that respondents rated understanding listening, suggesting professional help, and rallying friends as helpful. The Discussion also describes friends as potential sources of support. The paper does not establish that friends offered opportunities for peer learning through modelling, negotiating, or managing mental healthcare; it surveyed young people’s views of helpful responses. (LLM, conf=0.84)
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Cites
Mental health literacy: empowering the community to take action for better mental health
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Self-citationYoung People’s Help-Seeking for Mental Health Problems
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“These findings indicate the need for public awareness campaigns on mental health that make clear reference to potentially useful self-help strategies, as previously proposed [20].”
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Research works printed but not linked: 12
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Coles, M. E., Ravid, A., Gibb, B., George-Denn, D., Bronstein, L. R., & McLeod, S. (2016) · Journal of Adolescent Health · doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2015.09.017 · Cited by 223 · see citing works
Tay, J. L., Tay, Y. F., & Klainin-Yobas, P. (2018) · Archives of Psychiatric Nursing · doi:10.1016/j.apnu.2018.04.007 · Cited by 138 · see citing works
Lynch, L., Moorhead, A., Long, M., & Hawthorne-Steele, I. (2023) · Journal of Child and Family Studies · doi:10.1007/s10826-022-02498-5 · Cited by 58 · see citing works
Pilkington, K., & Wieland, L. S. (2020) · BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies · doi:10.1186/s12906-020-03038-8 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Lynch, L., Moorhead, A., Long, M., & Hawthorne-Steele, I. (2024) · Community Mental Health Journal · doi:10.1007/s10597-024-01237-y · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Lynch, L., Moorhead, A., Long, M., & Steele, I. H. (2025) · Children and Youth Services Review · doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2025.108248 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Lynch, L., Moorhead, A., Long, M., & Hawthorne-Steele, I. (2025) · Social Sciences · doi:10.3390/socsci14090529 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
“Friends offered opportunities for peer learning, particularly around communicating, modelling, negotiating, or managing mental healthcare, as well as empathy, connection and care (Eigenhuis et al. 2021; Loureiro et al. 2013; Lubman et al. 2016; Medlow et al. 2010; Westberg et al. 2020).”
- Authors
- Loureiro, L. M., Jorm, A. F., Mendes, A. C., Santos, J. C., Ferreira, R. O., & Pedreiro, A. T.
- Affiliations
- The University of Melbourne (AU)
- Escola Superior de Enfermagem de Coimbra (PT)
- Venue
- BMC Psychiatry
- Published
- 2013-05-07
- Volume
- 13
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 129-129
- ISSN
- 1471-244X (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3651375
- OpenAlex
- W2077911069
- Cited by
- 100
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 3
- FWCI
- 11.01
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- BMC Psychiatry (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Minerva Access (University of Melbourne) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Portuguese National Funding Agency for Science, Research and Technology (RCAAP Project by FCT) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- European Commission
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health Treatment and Access
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Suicide and Self-Harm Studies
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Speech and Hearing › School Health and Nursing Education
- Keywords
- mental health literacy, depression, youth, help-seeking, mental health first aid, self-help strategies, depression prevention, treatment knowledge, psychotropic drugs, school-based intervention, Portuguese youth
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Depressive Disorder, Female, Health Services Needs and Demand, Humans, Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice, Male, Mental Health, Patient Acceptance of Health Care, Portugal, Schools, Young Adult, Health Literacy
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