What do young millennials know about mental health literacy?

Hi everyone, I have a Facebook page on mental health literacy, take a look and please "like" my page. https://www.facebook.com/MentalHealthLiteracy

Hi everyone, I have a Facebook page on mental health literacy. I post the latest on mental health literacy as well resources on depression and anxiety to inform adolescents, young adults, and people who care about them. Take a look around and "like" my page https://www.facebook.com/MentalHealthLiteracy/

such important work; thank you for sharing your talent and passion with young people who can benefit from your work and support

Would love to hear and help. I'm an undergrad at SLU in Saint Louis. Working in lab as well.

Good luck from a fellow LLU HPRO DrPH grad!

As a Psychologist, I believe Marcia's research will go a far in creating understanding about a very important topic.

Sure! Thanks for asking. I'm synthesizing and modifying two surveys: one on mental health literacy (Reavley et al 2014) and theory of planned behavior (TPB) on help-seeking (Mo & Mak, 2009). For the MHL, the researchers not only assessed depression, but also anxiety disorders and schizophrenia. They also had a huge n (6019); their survey was done by phone in Australia. The participants who take the online survey are given a vignette of a young person exhibiting some type of mental illness; I want to see if they recognize it, then they are asked how that person can best be helped (variety of interventions from medication to diet). Based on their answers, there is a MHL score that sums up their MHL on the specific mental illness I'm studying. I'm using the constructs of TPB to assess help-seeking (attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, MHL (score), and perceived barriers). For the TPB, I'm having them imagine that they are the person in the vignette. There are background factors (variables) that may predict help-seeking intention, so the ones I'm using are: gender, race/ethnicity, educational level, acculturation, parenthood, mental health status (I'm using the PHQ2), knowing someone with mental illness, marijuana & alcohol use, and mental health service utilization. Some feedback I've received from people who have taken the survey is that it's "the best MH survey I 've ever taken" to "it was fun to take." It's brief (no more than 15 minutes), they can use their smart phones, notebook, or laptop, and it's available in English, Spanish, and Chinese. I posted my references in the lab notes which include the researchers mentioned. Thanks again!

What an interesting project! Just curious, can you explain a bit more about the methods/process you're using, for example, what's the Mental Health Literacy Scale? How does it work? And what's the "theory of planned behavior in help-seeking intention for depression with suicidality"? I'd love to learn more about what kind of information you'll be surveying these young adults for!