Parental mental health literacy and stigmatizing beliefs

ABSTRACT

This descriptive study examined parents’ knowledge of and attitudes about child and adolescent mental health, referred to here as parental mental health literacy (MHL). A sample of parents responded to vignettes about children and adolescents experiencing symptoms of ADHD, depression, and psychosis. Parents’ MHL varied widely in response to the different vignettes, with respondents showing greater knowledge and less stigmatizing attitudes about ADHD than about the other mental health disorders presented in the vignettes. Social workers are encouraged to be more active in increasing parental MHL and educating the public to reduce stigma around child and adolescent mental health problems.

KEYWORDS:

• Mental health literacy
• parents
• child mental health
• stigma

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research was supporting by funds from the Empire State College Foundation’s Imperatore Community Fellowship, 2016-17;SUNY Empire State College Imperatore Fellowship [2016-17].