Beliefs and Attitudes Among Italian High School Students Toward People With Severe Mental Disorders

Abstract

The negative attitudes surrounding mental disorders and their treatment are a major obstacle to the correct identification and treatment of emerging psychopathologies. The purpose of this study was to investigate mental health literacy in a large and representative sample of high school students in Italy, via a booklet containing several questionnaires delivered to 1032 teenagers. The items in the questionnaires probed knowledge about mental health and illness, stigmatization, stereotypes, behaviors, opinions, and attitudes. In general, the students had a reasonable knowledge of mental disorders and were able to distinguish these from somatic disorders. However, a large portion of the students nourished some misconceptions about mental disorders and was also rather skeptical about the effectiveness of treatment or the chance of recovery for people with severe mental disorders. Nevertheless, roughly half of the students reported being willing to provide help to someone with a mental disorder when in need. Poor mental health literacy is a major barrier to seeking help and receiving effective treatment. Young people are the ideal target of raising awareness and antistigma campaigns because they are at a higher risk for developing a psychopathology.

Measurement properties of tools measuring mental health knowledge: a systematic review

“…The 16 tools evaluated mental health knowledge among different populations: community members [30, 33, 43, 44]; mental health patients [28, 34, 38]; patients’ family members and caregivers [29, 30, 32, 38, 40]; police officers [30, 31]; mental health professionals [30, 32, 34]; high school students [41–44]; post-secondary students [39]; athletes [35]; immigrants [36]; or elementary teachers [37]. The tools addressed either mental health knowledge in general [31, 33, 39–41, 43, 44], or knowledge about specific mental disorders, such as depression [34–36, 38, 42], schizophrenia [28–30, 32], anxiety [35], and ADHD [37]. …”

“…Pickett-Schenk et al, 2000 [40]Journey of Hope (JOH) Outcome Survey4-point Likert scale on 15 items on mental health knowledgeFamily members of people with mental illnessM = 56.48424USGeneral knowledgeInternal consistency; Construct validity (hypothesis testing); Structural validity (Factor analysis);14. Serra et al, 2013 [41]Knowledge of Mental Disorders (KMD)“Yes, “No”, and “I don’t know” responses to assess knowledge on the name and characteristics of mental disorders and ability to distinguish them from somatic illnessesHigh school studentsM = 17.3 (SD = 1.3); (range: 15–24)1,023ItalyGeneral knowledgeInternal consistency; Structural validity (factor analysis); Construct validity (hypothesis testing)15. Hart et al, 2014 [42]Adolescent Depression Knowledge Questionnaire (ADKQ)13 dichotomous and 2 fill-in-the- blank questions on depression knowledgeGrade 9 studentsNot reported8,216USDepressionInternal consistency; Structural validity (factor analysis)16.…”

“…Of these 14 tools, 1 (Mental Health Knowledge Schedule) further included stigma-related knowledge on help-seeking, recognition, support, and employment [33]; 1 (Knowledge about Depression and Mania Inventory) addressed knowledge about coping and illness management [38], and 1 (Knowledge about Schizophrenia Questionnaire) included knowledge about legal issues pertaining to mental illness [28]. Two tools (Knowledge of Mental Disorders, Mental health disorder recognition questionnaire) measured participants’ ability to identify the illness appropriately [41, 43]. …”

“…The 16 tools assessed properties such as internal consistency (15 tools) [28–31, 33–35, 37–44], content validity (10 tools) [28–31, 33, 34, 37–39, 42], construct validity (hypothesis testing) (7 tools) [30, 31, 34, 38, 40, 41, 43], reliability (8 tools) [28, 30, 31, 33, 35, 39, 42, 43], structural validity/factor analysis (6 tools) [34, 37, 40–42, 44], criterion validity (2 tools) [30, 38], responsiveness (sensitivity to change) (3 tools) [28, 31, 38] and cultural validity (1 tool) [32]. The methodological quality of included studies ranged mostly from “poor” to “good” ( n  = 11) except that 5 studies addressing content validity [30, 31, 33, 38, 39], and 1 study [39] addressing internal consistency and structural validity demonstrated “excellent” quality.…”

Help seeking behavior and related factors in schizophrenia patients: a comparative study of two populations from eastern and western Turkey

“…Insufficient awareness from psychiatric point of view is an important drawback for help seeking and treatment. In this respect, increasing the awareness of young people and mounting campaigns against stigmatization could be an ideal goal (22). A preference rate of 85% for help seeking from a psychiatrist in Menemen sample was higher than that of Tatvan (32%).…”