Search results for ‘Subject term:"mental health problems"’ Sort:
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A better place for everyone
- Authors:
- ESSLER Vicky, STICKLEY Theodore, ARTHUR Antony
- Journal article citation:
- Mental Health Today, October 2006, pp.16-19.
- Publisher:
- Pavilion
- Place of publication:
- Hove
This article investigates whether running drama workshops in a school with the specific intention of challenging pupils' attitudes towards mental ill health and towards people mental health problems, would be successful. Participants were 104 year 9 pupils, aged 13-14 from a large inner-city secondary school. Material from the Read the Signs campaign developed by the Department of Health mental health promotion campaign Mind Out for Mental Health were used. The workshops involved quiz, drama work and games. The quiz was used as an informal way of collecting data to evaluate the impact of the workshops. The results of the study suggest that creative interventions in schools can improve awareness and dispel myths about mental health problems and people who experience them.
Using a school-based intervention to challenge stigmatizing attitudes and promote mental health in teenagers
- Authors:
- ESSLER Vicky, ARTHUR Antony, STICKLEY Theodore
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Mental Health, 15(2), April 2006, pp.243-250.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- London
The aim of the study was to assess the effectiveness of a school-based intervention involving a professional theatre company in increasing teenagers' knowledge about mental health issues, and promoting positive attitudes towards people with mental health problems. The study design was a non-controlled intervention study. Secondary school pupils knowledge about, and attitudes towards, mental health problems, were measured before and after an educational intervention using the “Mindout for Mental Health” quiz. Pupils' median quiz score was greater following the intervention than before it. Following the intervention there was an increase in the proportion of pupils giving correct responses to questions regarding the incidence of mental health problems, the symptoms of mental health problems, and, to a lesser extent the risk of violence perpetrated by people with mental health problems. In contrast, the proportion of students who correctly responded to questions about the discrimination faced by those with mental health problems decreased between baseline and follow-up. The author conclude that school-based interventions that are both educational and experiential have the potential to improve knowledge about mental health problems and decrease stigmatizing attitudes among 13 – 14-year-old pupils.