Abstract
Opinions about mental illness have been found to be negative among college students and the general population. Studies have indicated that improving literacy levels would improve opinions and lead to individuals to seek help and family to provide the needed support. This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of psycho-education on the opinions about mental illness among public primary teacher trainees in Kenya. Convenience sampling was used to identify four public teacher colleges out of the twenty. Self-administered demographic questionnaire and opinions about mental illness scale were presented to the participants to collect data in four evaluations for the experimental group and three for the control group. The ethical protocol was followed from getting authority to informed consent from the participants. Out of the 2925 questionnaires presented, 2775 were returned fully filled, a return rate of 94.34%. Summative scores improved among the experimental group in the second, and third assessments, but this reduced to almost the original measure in the fourth assessment. This study found that psycho-education of mental illness is effective in improving negative opinions about mental illness among these participants and this study recommended mental health studies is included in the teachers’ curriculum.
Highlights
Opinions about mental illness in most of Africa are largely influenced by traditional beliefs that include punishment from God, being possessed by evil spirits [1, 2] that are caused and can be treated by supernatural beings [2, 3]
Opinions about mental illness improve with psychoeducation but are not sustained to over 10 months
Psycho-education improves all dimensions of opinions about mental illness, it is not sustainable for more than ten months
Summary
Opinions about mental illness in most of Africa are largely influenced by traditional beliefs that include punishment from God, being possessed by evil spirits [1, 2] that are caused and can be treated by supernatural beings [2, 3]. Young people have been found to experience stigma, feel embarrassed and to have problems in identifying the symptoms of mental illnesses due to limited mental health literacy, [1]. Opinions of mental illness have made the provision of health care services difficult, as the population believes that mental illness is incurable, Desjarlais et al as cited by Gureje and Alem [4]. Mental illnesses are common and increasing in Kenyan Health facilities, with about 42.3% - 66.2% identified cases among those attending health facilities with mild to severe depression, [5]. These increasing mental illnesses coupled with an increase in non-communicable diseases of HIV/AIDs
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