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标题：Assessment of Mental Health Literacy in School-going Adolescents
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作者：Malvika Sharma ; Bratati Banerjee ; Suneela Garg 等
期刊名称：Journal of Indian Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health
电子版ISSN：0973-1342
出版年度：2017
卷号：13
期号：4
页码：263-283
出版社：Indian Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health
摘要：Background: Prevalence of depression is growing in India, especially amongadolescents, but often goes unrecognized and untreated. Lack of Mental Health Literacyis one of the reasons for the same. Aim: To assess Mental Health Literacy in schoolgoingadolescents in terms of recognition of mental illness, etiology, management andpersonal stigma. Methods: The questionnaire consisted of a vignette of a person withdepression followed by a series of questions to assess recognition of the disorder, helpseekingintentions, and beliefs about interventions, causes, risk factors, outcomes,methods of prevention and stigmatizing attitudes. Results: 354 adolescents participatedin the study of which 83.6% correctly identified a depression vignette. 59.5% adolescentsfeel that depression is caused by external factors such as stressful life event, childhoodhardship, breathing polluted air, alcohol or drug abuse. 26.1% feel that depression iscaused due to personal reasons such as weak character, poor coping skills or due to godpunishing past sins. 14.4% believe that depression is due to biological causes such as264brain disease, chemical imbalance or genes. 28% of the adolescents were of the opinionthat a psychologist/counsellor was the best form of help for someone with depression,21.5% felt that family/friends were the best form of help. 6.2% thought that the best wayto deal with the problem was to ignore it and hope that it goes away. The most commonreason cited for not seeking help was that the subject was ashamed or uncomfortableabout asking for help. Conclusion: The results presented in this paper reveal somelacunae in the mental health literacy of adolescents. This may be addressed throughappropriate health promotion interventions to improve the knowledge, attitude andultimately practices related to mental health disorders
关键词：depression; adolescent; awareness; mental health literacy