Mental health literacy regarding eating disorders in female Japanese university students

ABSTRACT

Mental health literacy (MHL) refers to one’s knowledge and beliefs about mental disorders. MHL is necessary for the prevention and early detection of eating disorders, but little research exists on the MHL of Japanese people. This paper aims to reveal the degree of MHL about eating disorders in the Japanese individuals most susceptible to them (namely, female university students). Female Japanese university students were surveyed with a self-report questionnaire, using the Japanese versions of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa vignettes. Most participants responded that the main problem described in each vignette were “eating disorders” and tended to suggest medical care for the treatment. However, many still believed these issues to be simple problems of eating behavior. Overall, the participants demonstrated inadequate MHL about eating disorders. Initiatives to improve this population’s knowledge and understanding of eating disorders are necessary.

Supplementary data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed on the publisher’s website.

Declaration of interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report.

Data Availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, ENH, upon reasonable request.

Ethical approval

Ethical approval for the study was obtained from the Ethics Committee of the Nagasaki International University (approval #13H04). Consent to the research was confirmed by use of a question on the survey, and only data from individuals that provided consent were analyzed.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP15K21569.