The Effectiveness of Interventions on Improving the Mental Health Literacy of Health Care Professionals in General Hospitals: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials

Abstract

Background: Suboptimal mental health literacy levels among general hospital health care professionals negatively impact the care coordination of patients with physical–mental comorbidity. Aims: This review is to examine the evidence on the effectiveness of interventions to improve the mental health literacy of general hospital health care professionals. Methods: A systematic search of literature was conducted in 13 electronic databases with manual searching of reference lists from 1980 to 2021. Studies were screened by pre-set eligibility criteria, that is, participants who were general hospital health care professionals taking care of adult patients, the interventions aimed at improving any components of participants’ mental health literacy, comparisons were alternative active intervention or no intervention, and the primary outcomes were any aspects of mental health literacy. Results: Eight randomized controlled trials ( N = 1,732 participants) were included in this review. Evidence indicated that mental health literacy interventions with educational components can improve components of the health care professionals’ mental health literacy, in terms of mental health knowledge and mental illness–related attitudes/stigma. In addition, few studies evaluated all components of participants’ mental health literacy. Conclusions: Based on the available evidence, educational interventions had a positive effect on components of general hospital health care professionals’ mental health literacy. Health care organizations should provide educational programs to enhance general hospital health care professionals’ mental health literacy. Further studies are needed to explore interventions that target all components of general hospital staff’s mental health literacy and to evaluate its impact on the psychiatric consultation–liaison service utilization in general hospitals, as well as patient outcomes.