Mental health literacy: focus on developing countries

Keith A. Ganasen · Shireen Parker · Charmaine Hugo · Dan Joseph Stein · Robin Alexander Emsley · Soraya Seedat

162 citations0/0 files storedAfrican Journal of Psychiatry

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Mental Health Treatment and Access Psychology and Mental Health Health Literacy and Information Accessibility

Abstract

Mental health literacy refers to knowledge and beliefs about mental disorders which aid their recognition, management and prevention. This is a non-systematic review of published articles on mental health literacy in the general population and among primary healthcare workers, in particular, in developing countries, sourced from Medline, PsychInfo and African Healthline databases (1990-2006). Our review of the literature suggests that public knowledge about mental disorders as medical conditions, and their evidence based treatment strategies, in developing countries may be generally poorly or inaccurately understood. The review also reveals that improving the mental health literacy among primary health care professionals is imperative. Poor mental health literacy can be an obstacle to providing treatment for those in need, and is of particular concern in low and middle-income countries where mental health services are already scarce. It is likely that strategies for improvement will need to be comprehensive and innovative, taking advantage of opportunities and meeting challenges faced in the developing world.

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2004Prevalence, Severity, and Unmet Need for Treatment of Mental Disorders in the World Health Organization World Mental Health Surveys 1997“Mental health literacy”: a survey of the public's ability to recognise mental disorders and their beliefs about the effectiveness of treatment 2000Mental health literacy 1988Rethinking Psychiatry: From Cultural Category to Personal Experience 2003Poverty and common mental disorders in developing countries.2003Reducing psychiatric stigma and discrimination: evaluation of educational interventions in UK secondary schools 2002Mental health first aid training for the public: evaluation of effects on knowledge, attitudes and helping behavior 2003Community attitudes toward and knowledge of mental illness in South Africa

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2014Mental health literacy in non-western countries: a review of the recent literature 2011Barriers to Mental Health Care and Predictors of Treatment Dropout in the South African Stress and Health Study 2021Assessing mental health literacy of primary health care workers in Kenya: a cross-sectional survey 2020Experimental Evaluation of a School-Based Mental Health Literacy Program in two Southeast Asian Nations

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