Assessment of health sciences academic advisors’ mental health literacy and their experiences with students facing mental health problems
Background: Owing to everyday educational activities, academic advisors often have to deal with mental health problems among students. Therefore, their mental health literacy must be assessed to determine whether they can detect mental health problems when working with the students. Objective: This...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Belitung Raya Foundation
2022-12-01
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| Series: | Belitung Nursing Journal |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.belitungraya.org/BRP/index.php/bnj/article/view/2247 |
| _version_ | 1797976125069066240 |
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| author | Fatimah Raji Nahed Morsi Alaa Mahsoon Loujain S. Sharif |
| author_facet | Fatimah Raji Nahed Morsi Alaa Mahsoon Loujain S. Sharif |
| author_sort | Fatimah Raji |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background: Owing to everyday educational activities, academic advisors often have to deal with mental health problems among students. Therefore, their mental health literacy must be assessed to determine whether they can detect mental health problems when working with the students.
Objective: This study aimed to assess health sciences academic advisors’ mental health literacy and their experiences dealing with university students facing mental health challenges.
Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was undertaken among a convenience sample of 133 health sciences academic advisors at the medical campus of a public university in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. An electronic self-administered questionnaire using the Mental Health Literacy Scale (MHLS) was used to appraise participants’ recognition, knowledge, and attitudes toward ways to solve mental health difficulties. Data collection was completed from November 2020 to February 2021. Descriptive statistics, Student’s t-test for independent samples, One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), and Tukey’s test were selected for data analysis.
Results: Academic advisors were found to be highly literate about matters of mental health. The mean mental health literacy score was statistically significantly higher in those advisors who were lecturers, assistant professors, associate professors, and professors (p <0.001). Additionally, the mean scores were significantly higher among advisors with a teaching role of lecturer rather than those who did not have the teaching role of a clinical supervisor (t = -2.331; p = 0.021).
Conclusions: The academic advisors had an elevated level of mental health literacy, and the highly experienced academic advisors could deal better with students having mental health problems. Hence, it is essential to continue to provide educational programs and training on mental health literacy to academic advisors, as it helps them identify the signs of mental health complications. Furthermore, it improves their skills and confidence when they offer student support in coping with mental health issues.
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| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T04:46:22Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-2ca4de04e4744390b87334af21925adf |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2477-4073 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T04:46:22Z |
| publishDate | 2022-12-01 |
| publisher | Belitung Raya Foundation |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Belitung Nursing Journal |
| spelling | doaj.art-2ca4de04e4744390b87334af21925adf2022-12-27T10:52:01ZengBelitung Raya FoundationBelitung Nursing Journal2477-40732022-12-018610.33546/bnj.2247Assessment of health sciences academic advisors’ mental health literacy and their experiences with students facing mental health problemsFatimah Raji0Nahed Morsi1Alaa Mahsoon2Loujain S. Sharif36th Zone, Ministry of Health (MOH), Madinah Health Cluster, Madinah, Saudi Arabia Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing Department, Faculty of Nursing, Tanta University, Egypt | Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing Department, Faculty of Nursing, King Abdulaziz University, Saudi ArabiaPsychiatric and Mental Health Nursing Department, Faculty of Nursing, King Abdulaziz University, Saudi ArabiaPsychiatric and Mental Health Nursing Department, Faculty of Nursing, King Abdulaziz University, Saudi ArabiaBackground: Owing to everyday educational activities, academic advisors often have to deal with mental health problems among students. Therefore, their mental health literacy must be assessed to determine whether they can detect mental health problems when working with the students. Objective: This study aimed to assess health sciences academic advisors’ mental health literacy and their experiences dealing with university students facing mental health challenges. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was undertaken among a convenience sample of 133 health sciences academic advisors at the medical campus of a public university in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. An electronic self-administered questionnaire using the Mental Health Literacy Scale (MHLS) was used to appraise participants’ recognition, knowledge, and attitudes toward ways to solve mental health difficulties. Data collection was completed from November 2020 to February 2021. Descriptive statistics, Student’s t-test for independent samples, One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), and Tukey’s test were selected for data analysis. Results: Academic advisors were found to be highly literate about matters of mental health. The mean mental health literacy score was statistically significantly higher in those advisors who were lecturers, assistant professors, associate professors, and professors (p <0.001). Additionally, the mean scores were significantly higher among advisors with a teaching role of lecturer rather than those who did not have the teaching role of a clinical supervisor (t = -2.331; p = 0.021). Conclusions: The academic advisors had an elevated level of mental health literacy, and the highly experienced academic advisors could deal better with students having mental health problems. Hence, it is essential to continue to provide educational programs and training on mental health literacy to academic advisors, as it helps them identify the signs of mental health complications. Furthermore, it improves their skills and confidence when they offer student support in coping with mental health issues. https://www.belitungraya.org/BRP/index.php/bnj/article/view/2247health literacymental healthacademic advisorsstudentscross-sectional studySaudi Arabia |
| spellingShingle | Fatimah Raji Nahed Morsi Alaa Mahsoon Loujain S. Sharif Assessment of health sciences academic advisors’ mental health literacy and their experiences with students facing mental health problems Belitung Nursing Journal health literacy mental health academic advisors students cross-sectional study Saudi Arabia |
| title | Assessment of health sciences academic advisors’ mental health literacy and their experiences with students facing mental health problems |
| title_full | Assessment of health sciences academic advisors’ mental health literacy and their experiences with students facing mental health problems |
| title_fullStr | Assessment of health sciences academic advisors’ mental health literacy and their experiences with students facing mental health problems |
| title_full_unstemmed | Assessment of health sciences academic advisors’ mental health literacy and their experiences with students facing mental health problems |
| title_short | Assessment of health sciences academic advisors’ mental health literacy and their experiences with students facing mental health problems |
| title_sort | assessment of health sciences academic advisors mental health literacy and their experiences with students facing mental health problems |
| topic | health literacy mental health academic advisors students cross-sectional study Saudi Arabia |
| url | https://www.belitungraya.org/BRP/index.php/bnj/article/view/2247 |
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