MENTAL HEALTH LITERACY OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN HO CHI MINH CITY

Abstract

Mental health literacy (MHL) is essential for high school students to promote the quality of their mental health as well as help the people in need. In Vietnam, the studies about MHL in high school student populations are limited, whose results often report the moderate level of MHL. The aim of this study was to report the MHL status of high school students in Ho Chi Minh city. Participants were 577 students selected in several high schools in Ho Chi Minh city and then were assessed using Mental Health Literacy Scale (28 items) which has been validated into Vietnamese for better adaptation to high school Vietnamese students. Mean score of MHL in the research subjects was 77.47, representing the moderate level. Meanwhile, the proportion of students with moderate level accounted for 63.60%, followed by the high ones at 31.37% and the remaining figure was for the low level, at 5.03%. Therefore, MHL, is of paramount importance to be conducted further research for laying a foundation for providing feasible solutions to improve MHL particularly and mental health quality generally of high school students.Keywords: mental health; mental health literacy; high school students