Greek adolescents' views of people with mental illness through drawings: mental health education's impact

Abstract

People with mental illness are among the most stigmatized and discriminated against as a result of lack of knowledge among the public. Our study explored adolescents' perceptions of people with mental illness through drawings, described these perceptions, and tested the possible changes in perceptions after an educational mental health intervention. Drawings were collected before and after an educational mental health intervention from 59 Greek secondary school students. One group of participants served as the experimental group and received the educational mental health intervention. Content analysis of the drawings was used to analyze data. The drawings provided a clear understanding of adolescents' perceptions towards people with mental illness. After the educational mental health intervention the negative elements presenting the people with mental illness were less among the experimental group, while the drawings among the comparison group did not change. The findings support that educational mental health intervention can have a positive impact on adolescents' perceptions towards people with mental illness. Health professionals can use the findings of our study in order to develop and implement similar interventions.

Stigma associated with mental health problems among young people in India: a systematic review of magnitude, manifestations and recommendations

“…[78] As in studies from Lebanon, [79] Singapore [13] and China, [80] evil spirits and God's punishment were important determinants of public stigma in India relative to environmental factors. Similar to adolescents in Greece, [81] Indian youth believed that mental health problems were easily identifiable and that people with such problems appeared markedly different. We also find that considerable youth believe in both traditional/faith healers and psychiatry as part of India's pluralistic medical system [82,83].…”

The role of mental health nurses in supporting young people’s mental health: a review of the literature

“…Theme 2: the appropriateness of school as a setting for mental health support Sakellari et al (2014) hold the view that mental health should be a subject that is taught early before young people create pre-conceived ideas of depression and associated stigma. Their experimental group uncovers negative perceptions from adolescents who have had no education around mental illness.…”

“…However, Issakainen and Hanninen's (2016) study does not explicitly define the three-stage analysis process which has been applied, therefore as a consequence it could be considered weaker evidence. Sakellari et al (2014) are keen to show that adolescents who have had no prior involvement with mental health professionals tended to portray professionals as different in appearance from others. Likewise, in their illustrations they drew children suffering from a mental illness with no recognisable gender characteristics and with bright red eyes.…”

“…These were in contrast to the focus group who were educated around mental illness prior to being asked to draw pictures of individuals who may be suffering from a mental illness. Representations of mental illness can create many misconceptions when adolescents have not encountered an individual with an illness nor had prior understanding of illness (Sakellari et al 2014 Considering the whole issue of perception of barriers, it is clear that education around mental health is a necessity to avoid misconceptions and instil knowledge of accessible services. This demonstrates the importance of healthy emotional regulation and development and knowing when to seek support if things extend beyond normality for a particular person.…”

Can drawings help assessing dementia caregivers' burden? A preliminary study

“…Drawings can provide an additional way to capture the experiences of caregiving among family caregivers of persons with dementia. It was proposed that, compared to explicit and verbal tools such as interviews or questionnaires, drawings allow to express inner feelings and distress more spontaneously, and are subject to less methodological biases (Barel-Shoshani & Kreitler, 2017; González-Rivera & Bauermeister, 2007; Mays et al., 2011; Sakellari, Lehtonen, Sourander, Kalokerinou-Anagnostopoulou, & Leino-Kilpi, 2014). While several projective drawing tests are available (such as the House-Tree-Person test, the Kinetic-Family-Drawing test), the Human Figure Drawing Test (HFD) is the most widely used to assess emotional indicators (Nan & Linz, 2012; Panek, Hayslip, Jenkins, & Moske, 2015).…”