Mental health literacy about depression and schizophrenia among adolescents in Sweden

Abstract

Background: Mental health literacy (MHL) refers to an individual's knowledge of mental disorders, including the ability to recognize psychopathology and being aware of help options. Most studies of MHL have focused on adults.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine levels of MHL among adolescents.

Methods: MHL was examined using two pre-established vignettes that presented an adolescent with symptoms of either depression or schizophrenia. The respondents were 426 adolescents (age mean=16). Vignette data were analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively.

Results: The data showed that 42.7% and 34.7% of the respondents identified depression and schizophrenia, respectively. Depression was recognized more often by females than males. Professional help was suggested by a minority of the respondents for managing symptoms of depression (22.5%) or schizophrenia (32.6%). Altruistic behaviors, examined through the willingness to help an acquaintance with mental illness symptoms, were apparent among 58.2% of the respondents and to a greater extent in females than males. Answers following the schizophrenia vignette also revealed stigmatizing attitudes in 11.5% of the participants.

Conclusions: There are relatively low levels of MHL among teenagers in Sweden. Awareness campaigns and the implementation of psychoeducation in the school curriculum could increase MHL in this group.

Keywords: Europe; Mental illness; Recognition; Scandinavia; Stigma; Teenagers.