Successful Application of a Canadian Mental Health Curriculum Resource by Usual Classroom Teachers in Significantly and Sustainably Improving Student Mental Health Literacy

Abstract

Objective: To investigate whether the significant and substantive findings from a previous study of youth mental health literacy (MHL) could be replicated using the same methods in another population. Method:We examined the impact of a curriculum resource, the Mental Health and High School Curriculum Guide (The Guide), taught by usual classroom teachers on students' knowledge and attitudes related to mental health and mental illness in Canadian secondary schools. Survey data were collected before, immediately after, and 2 months after implementation of The Guide by teachers in usual classroom teaching. We conducted paired-sample t tests and calculated the Cohen d value to determine outcomes and impact of the curriculum resource application. Results:One hundred fourteen students were matched for analysis of knowledge data and 112 students were matched for analysis of attitude data at pre-intervention, postintervention, and 2-month follow-up time periods. Following classroom exposure to the curriculum resource, students' knowledge scores increased significantly and substantively, compared with baseline (P < 0.001, d = 1.11), and this was maintained at 2-month follow-up (P < 0.001, d = 0.91). Similar findings for attitude improvement were found (P < 0.001, d = 0.66), and this improvement was maintained at 2-month follow-up (P < 0.001, d = 0.52). Conclusions:These findings corroborate those from a previous study conducted in a different location. Taken together these results suggest a simple but effective approach to improving MHL in young people by embedding a classroom resource, delivered by usual classroom teachers in usual school settings.

Enhancing mental health literacy in young people

“…These recommendations are in good alignment with a recent MHL approach that is based on existing classroom friendly pedagogical applications that can be easily and inexpensively delivered within existing educational systems and does not require extracurricular or outside-of-school inputs [2,6]. When applied through enhancing capacity of classroom teachers to integrate evidence-based MHL curriculum resources (http://teenmentalhealth.org/curriculum/) into existing curriculum, as demonstrated by numerous Canadian studies, such interventions can concurrently result in positive MHL outcomes for both students and teachers alike [21][22][23][24]. Additionally, this approach can facilitate the development of an horizontally integrated school-based pathway to youth mental health care that links education and health systems, enhances identification, and facilitates triage and referral of students with mental disorders to local mental health care providers, thus functionally integrating educational and health care delivery systems, even in the absence of specific policies designed to do so [13,25].…”

'Parallel Universe' or 'Proven Future'? The Language of Dependent Means t-Test Interpretations

“…For example, medical research tends to favor a proven future interpretation. Thus, Kutcher, Wei, and Morgan (2015) concluded their study by noting that "these results [i.e., those obtained from their intervention] suggest a simple but effective approach to improving MHL [mental health literacy] in young people" (p. 580). Comparable inferences are found in studies investigating educational-type interventions.…”

Destigmatizing psychosis: Investigating the effectiveness of a school‐based programme in Hong Kong secondary school students

“…A large randomized controlled trial consisting of 534 students in the regional area of Ottawa showed that a curriculum-based programme delivered by usual classroom teachers was effective in improving student knowledge and attitudes towards mental health (Milin et al, 2016). Such improvements have also been shown to be maintained at the 2-month follow-up point (Kutcher, Wei, & Morgan, 2015), suggesting great potential in reducing stigma towards psychosis among the adolescent population.…”