Beliefs about first aid for mental disorders: results from a mental health literacy survey of Japanese high school students

Abstract

The aim of the study was to carry out a survey of Japanese high school students in order to assess their beliefs about how best to help those with depression, social phobia and psychosis/schizophrenia. In 2011, 311 Japanese high school students aged 15–19 years filled out an anonymous self-report questionnaire distributed via teachers. Participants were given a case vignette describing depression, schizophrenia or social phobia. Subsequent questions covered their beliefs about the best way to help the person (mental health first-aid actions). The first-aid actions most commonly rated as helpful were listening to the person's problems in an understanding way and talking to the person firmly about getting their act together. Less than 20% of respondents rated suggesting professional help seeking as likely to be helpful. First-aid intentions and beliefs about first-aid behaviours in young Japanese people are of relatively low quality. As part of education to improve mental health literacy in Japan, young people need to be informed about avoiding potentially harmful forms of interaction with those developing mental disorders, as well as about potentially helpful ones, with a particular focus on facilitating professional help seeking.

Keywords:

• mental health literacy
• depression
• social phobia
• schizophrenia
• mental health first aid
• Japanese students

Notes on contributors

Dr Kumiko Yoshioka is a Clinical Psychologist and lectures in the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Fukuoka. Her research interests are in the area of mental health literacy and mental health education, promotion, and interventions.

Dr Nicola Reavley is a Senior Research Fellow in the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health at the University of Melbourne. Her research focuses on improving public knowledge and beliefs about mental health problems and on interventions that aim to improve support for those with mental disorders.

Alyssia Rossetto is a PhD student at the University of Melbourne. Her research interests include mental health literacy, mental health first aid and understanding how and why members of the public provide assistance to people with mental illnesses.

Prof Tony Jorm is a Professorial Fellow in the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health at the University of Melbourne and an NHMRC Australia Fellow. His research focuses on public knowledge and beliefs about mental illnesses, and particularly on interventions to improve the public's helpfulness towards people developing mental illnesses. Prof Jorm has been listed in ISI HighlyCited.com as one of the most cited researchers in Psychology/Psychiatry of the past 20 years..

Additional information

Funding

Funding for the study was provided by the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science.