Mental health literacy in Hong Kong

Lui, Christopher; Wong, Cacin P. Y.; Furnham, Adrian

doi:10.1177/0020764016651291

Cited by 12 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 33 publications

(36 reference statements)

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“…Perhaps more than any other area of MHL, cross-cultural studies are growing fastest. Some compare people from more than one culture (Altweck et al, 2015; Park et al, 2018; Wong et al, 2017), whereas others concentrate on just one country (Lui, Wong, & Furnham, 2016). Some have reviewed all the MHL data arising from one country (Tonsing, 2018).…”

Section: Variations In Mental Health Literacymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For instance, Kutcher et al (2016) reviewed over 400 articles and were critical of a number of issues: the limited number of interventions reported in the studies, consistent problems with the measurement of MHL by vignettes, and samples often being restricted to students. Many have been critical of vignette techniques (Furnham et al, 2016;Sai & Furnham, 2013). Others have been much more critical of the vagueness of the construct and poor theory development (Spiker & Hammer, 2018).…”

Section: Mental Health Literacymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Such a concern is especially important when scholar-generated statements have been designed to reflect professional opinions about a disorder or when there are competing explanatory models in lay conceptual models. An example of questionnaires about the cause and consequence of depression can be seen in Tables 2 and 3 (Furnham et al, 2016).…”

Section: Symptom Recognitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mental Health Literacy: A Review of What It Is and Why It Matters

Furnham

Swami

2018

International Perspectives in Psychology

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149

129

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An increasing number of scholarly works have attempted to understand the reasons for poor rates of help-seeking for symptoms of mental health disorders all around the world. One particular body of work has focused on “mental health literacy” (MHL), defined as knowledge about mental health disorders that is associated with their recognition, management, and prevention. In this article, we report a nonsystematic review of studies on MHL, to give nonexpert academics, policymakers, and practitioners an understanding of the field. We find that studies consistently show that the general public have relatively poor recognition of the symptoms of mental health disorders and appear to emphasize self-help over traditional medical treatments. In addition, we find that there are age, gender, educational, urban−rural, and cross-cultural differences in MHL, which may differentially affect rates of help-seeking in different contexts. Implications and future directions for research are considered in conclusion.

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Section: Variations In Mental Health Literacymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Mental Health Literacymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Symptom Recognitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mental Health Literacy: A Review of What It Is and Why It Matters

Furnham

Swami

2018

International Perspectives in Psychology

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149

129

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“…A modified version of the vignette-based MHL scale [ 18 ] was used in this study. The scale was adapted based on recent relevant evidence [ 10 , 18 , 19 ] and comprised three MHL subscales: (1) knowledge, which included a recognition of mental disorders and knowledge of help-seeking options [ 18 ]; (2) perceived stigma [ 10 ]; and (3) discrimination, which included preferred social distance [ 19 ]. There were 51 items in the vignette-based MHL scale, with 12 items in the knowledge domain, 24 items in the stigma domain, and 15 items in the discrimination domain (Table 1 ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is a strong sense of shame and negative stereotypes about the dangers associated with perceptions of mental illness in Chinese communities [ 9 ]. Previous studies have suggested that Chinese people tend to somaticise the symptoms of depression and thus suppress the emotional components of the disorder [ 10 ]. Rather than acknowledge the psychological distress associated with a mental disorder, Chinese people tend to express it as a physical symptom.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of human library intervention on mental health literacy: a multigroup pretest–posttest study

Chung

Tse

2022

BMC Psychiatry

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Background Mental health literacy (MHL) is an evolving concept encompassing knowledge of mental illness, help-seeking options, perceived stigma, and discrimination. This study aimed to test the effectiveness of a human library intervention at enhancing MHL. A human library intervention was adopted to enhance MHL in this study. The human library intervention aims to establish a positive framework and safe space for dialogue between readers and a ‘human book’. It works to promote dialogue, reduce prejudice, and encourage understanding of people who are regarded as disadvantaged or in a minority group. Methods An experimental approach with a multigroup pretest–posttest design was adopted. Forty-five participants aged between 18 and 23 years were recruited and randomly assigned to the experimental group (human library intervention), comparison group (didactic teaching session), or control group (no intervention). Adapted vignette-based MHL scale scores were used as the outcome measures. The overall and subscale scores were included in the analysis. Results The human library intervention group showed a significant improvement in overall MHL compared with the other two groups. In a multivariate analysis of the variance in subscale scores, the intervention was shown to significantly reduce stigma and preferred social distance, but had no significant effect on knowledge acquisition. Conclusions The human library intervention is effective at enhancing overall MHL and reducing stigma and preferred social distance. Further studies are suggested to further develop the MHL construct, human library interventions, and the MHL scales for consolidating evidence-based practice.

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