Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
New researchImpact of a Mental Health Curriculum on Knowledge and Stigma Among High School Students: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Section snippets
Participants and Procedure
All high schools in the regional area of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada were offered the opportunity to participate in the study. A total of 30 schools that agreed to participate were randomized, by a research assistant using a random number generator, to 1 of 3 arms: teaching as usual (TAU, or control), curriculum, and curriculum + follow-up eLearning modules. The Mental Health and High School Curriculum Guide (The Curriculum Guide) was required to be integrated within the grade 11 or 12 Ontario
Participants
After agreeing to participate, 5 schools were unable to meet study requirements and withdrew postrandomization, before initiation of the study. One school with a classroom of 25 students (4% of the overall sample) was excluded because of students’ low reading levels. This resulted in a total of 24 participating schools.
All teachers who received training delivered the curriculum in full. After completing the study, 23 teachers returned satisfaction and evaluation surveys providing feedback on
Discussion
This study is the first RCT to examine the effectiveness of a mental health literacy curriculum developed for high school students and delivered in the classroom. Students who received The Curriculum Guide showed significant improvements in mental health knowledge and a reduction in stigma compared to those receiving TAU, with the magnitude of these findings being substantial. In addition, we found that improvement in mental health knowledge predicted a corresponding improvement in attitudes
References (43)
- et al.
Lifetime prevalence of mental disorders in US adolescents: results from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication–Adolescent Supplement (NCS-A)
J Am Acad Child Psychiatry
(2010) - et al.
Childhood and adolescent onset psychiatric disorders, substance use, and failure to graduate high school on time
J Psychiatr Res
(2011) - et al.
Teacher involvement in school mental health interventions: a systematic review
Child Youth Serv Rev
(2012) - et al.
Effective/efficient mental health programs for school-age children: a synthesis of reviews
Soc Sci Med
(2004) - et al.
Mental health training program for community mental health staff in Guangzhou, China: effects on knowledge of mental illness and stigma
Int J Mental Health Sys
(2014) - et al.
Public knowledge and assessment of child mental health problems: findings from the National Stigma Study–Children
J Am Acad Child Adoesc Psychiatry
(2008) - et al.
CONSORT 2010 explanation and elaboration: updated guidelines for reporting parallel group randomised trials
J Clin Epidemiol
(2010) - et al.
Lifetime prevalence and age-of-onset distributions of DSM-IV disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication
Arch Gen Psychiatry
(2005) - et al.
Social consequences of psychiatric disorders I: educational attainment
Am J Psychiatry
(1995) - et al.
School connectedness is an underemphasized parameter in adolescent mental health: results of a community prediction study
J Clin Child Adolesc
(2006)
The Global Burden of Disease: 2004 Update
Severity of 12-month DSM-IV disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication Adolescent Supplement
Arch Gen Psychiatry
Facing the challenge of care for child and youth mental health in Canada: a critical commentary, five suggestions for change and a call to action
Healthcare Q
Improving mental health literacy as a strategy to facilitate early intervention for mental disorders
Med J Australia
Children’s mental health service use across service sectors
Health Affair
Child psychiatric epidemiology and canadian public policy-making: the state of the science and the art of the possible
Can J Psychiatry
How stigma interferes with mental health care
Am Psychol
How adolescents perceive the stigma of mental illness and alcohol abuse
Psychiatr Serv
What is the impact of mental health-related stigma on help-seeking? A systematic review of quantitative and qualitative studies
Psychol Med
Mental health literacy: public knowledge and beliefs about mental disorders
Br J Psychiatry
Cited by (128)
The predictors of mental health literacy among adolescents students
2024, Archives of Psychiatric NursingJust-word beliefs and community-level abortion stigma: An exploratory survey
2023, Contraception‘C’mon, let’s talk: a pilot study of mental health literacy program for Filipino migrant domestic workers in the United Kingdom
2024, Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology
This article is discussed in an editorial by Dr. Bernice A. Pescosolido on page 353.
Clinical guidance is available at the end of this article.
This study was funded by The Royal Ottawa Foundation and supported by the University of Ottawa Institute of Mental Health Research, with grants from Telus, The Ottawa Senators Foundation, and the Do It For Daron (DIFD) fund. The sponsors played no role in the conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation or approval of the manuscript.
The authors thank the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, the Ottawa Catholic School Board, and the Renfrew County District School Board for their assistance in this study, as well as the teachers and students who volunteered to be part of it. The authors also thank Darcy Santor, PhD, University of Ottawa, for his contribution to the items on attitudes toward mental illness.
Disclosure: Dr. Milin has served on the Pediatric Advisory Board of US WorldMeds and has received speakers’ honoraria for CME activity from the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry. Dr. Kutcher serves as the Sun Life Financial Chair in Adolescent Mental Health. Dr. Lewis, Mss. Walker, Wei, and Ferrill, and Mr. Armstrong report no biomedical financial interests or potential conflicts of interest.