Abrir espaço à saúde mental

: estudo do impacto da intervenção em alunos do 7º ano de escolaridade

Abstract

Youth is a crucial stage of life to promote mental health, since half of the mental disorders develop from 14 years onwards and given that mental disorders stereotypes are not fully developed yet at this age (Corrigan & Watson, 2002). Thus, actions that promote mental health among young people play a key-role in their future. This study is part of the project “Abrir Espaço à Saúde Mental – Promoção da saúde mental em adolescentes (12-14): desenvolvimento e avaliação de uma intervenção” and its aim is to assess the impact of a school-based intervention on mental health promotion among seventh-grade students. The sample was composed of 170 seventh-grade students, aged between 11 and 15, from 4 different schools – 2 public schools and 2 private schools - in the north of Portugal. These students were divided into two random groups: the trial group (N=85) and the control group (N=85). Data collection was conducted through a questionnaire on Mental Health Literacy - LSMq (Campos, Palha, Dias, Veiga & Duarte, 2012), which was provided to the participants in both groups one week before and after the intervention. Intervention was carried out only in the trial group. The main results have shown that there were some improvements in the knowledge of the trial group students and about self-help strategies as well. In what concerns first-aid skills and help seeking, no differences have been found. This study underlines the importance of investing in mental health promotion, by trying to overcome the lack of information on mental health in Portugal and by providing guidelines for the development of future research and interventions.

Date of Award	8 Jul 2013
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Luísa Campos (Supervisor)