Mental health knowledge and attitudes in a transition year student group: a pilot survey

Introduction Stigma towards mental health disorders remains a significant problem in society. Numerous public awareness campaigns and, to a lesser extent, educational interventions have been carried out to date to help address this issue.

A brief questionnaire was formulated and administered to two small groups of transition year students from schools throughout Ireland who participated in a week-long placement in a Psychiatric Hospital in Dublin in 2012. The input was from psychiatry and allied health professionals covering a wide range of mental health topics. It was administered before the first session and immediately after the last session. The input for each group in terms of topics was almost identical.

In all, 24 students participated, and the majority had either gone to school with, had observed in passing, or had a friend of the family or a relative with a mental illness, although only 21% had had knowledge on mental illness up to the intervention. The post-intervention scores demonstrated that the week had an impact on most of these views. Their attitudes to individuals with mental illness as regards employment, treatment, assistance, and recovery were encouraging, even at baseline, and all their responses improved following the sessions. There was a view that those with mental illness were somewhat reluctant to seek professional help.

Although the results of this study are very encouraging as regards attitudes towards mental health and their response to education, far more research and interventions are needed to explore and address stigma in more detail.