Concepts of mental health–a survey of attendees at a mental health promotion conference

Abstract

This survey of attendees at a Mental Health Promotion Conference in Hull, Yorkshire, England in the summer of 1996 was undertaken in part fulfilment of an MSc in Health Promotion. Of the 120 delegates, 99 attended the conference. There were 77 completed questionnaires. The most outstanding result of the survey was the very strong agreement among respondents that sense of self-worth is the most important attribute of being mentally healthy. The respondents were also strongly in favour of enablement strategies but on the whole envisioned these as having primarily an educational rather than a societal focus. About a third of the respondents tended to conceptualise mental health promotion within a clinical framework. The survey demonstrates the need to strengthen concepts of positive mental health and for mental health professionals to identify and work more closely with non-health workers in the promotion of positive mental health.