The effects of a teacher-led online mental health literacy program for high school students: a pilot cluster randomized controlled trial

Adolescents are vulnerable to mental health problems, and this vulnerability may be enhanced in situations such as the present COVID-19 pandemic. Online mental health literacy (MHL) education may help adolescents maintain/improve their mental health, especially in situations where face-to-face education is difficult. To evaluate the effects of a teacher-led “online Short MHL Program (<i>o-SMHLP</i>)” delivered online to grade 10 students in their classrooms. Students (age 15–16) were randomly assigned to an <i>o-SMHLP</i> group (n = 115 (3 classes)) or a control group (n = 155 (4 classes)) at the class level. The program consisted of a 20-minute session which included an animated video. The students completed a self-report questionnaire pre- and post-intervention assessing outcomes including: “Knowledge about mental health/illnesses”, “Recognition of necessity to seek help”, “Intention to seek help”, and “Unwillingness to socialize with people having mental illness”. Mixed effects modeling was employed for analyses. All outcomes were significantly improved in the intervention group compared to the control group post-intervention, except for “intention to seek help”. The present study shows the effectiveness of an online MHL intervention while identifying the need for the development of effective online programs targeting adolescents’ “intention to seek help”.青少年群体易受心理健康问题困扰，而在当前新型冠状病毒肺炎（COVID-19）疫情这类特殊情境下，这种易感性可能进一步加剧。线上心理健康素养（Mental Health Literacy, MHL）教育有助于青少年维持或改善心理健康水平，尤其在面对面教育难以开展的场景中更具实践价值。本研究旨在评估一项由教师主导、面向十年级学生在课堂中开展的线上微型心理健康素养课程（o-SMHLP）的干预效果。研究以班级为随机分配单位，将15至16岁的学生分为两组：o-SMHLP干预组（共115人，涵盖3个班级）与对照组（共155人，涵盖4个班级）。该课程包含一段时长20分钟的教学单元，其中融入了动画视频内容。干预前后，学生均完成自我报告式问卷，以评估四类干预结局指标：「心理健康与精神疾病知识」、「对寻求帮助必要性的认知」、「寻求帮助的意向」，以及「与精神疾病患者社交的抵触意愿」。本研究采用混合效应模型开展数据分析。结果显示，干预后干预组在除「寻求帮助意向」外的所有评估维度上的表现均显著优于对照组。本研究证实了线上心理健康素养干预的有效性，同时也明确了开发针对青少年「寻求帮助意向」提升的高效线上干预方案的必要性。