EDUCATION PROGRAM ON MENTAL DISORDERS AND ISSUES RELATED TO IT AMONG YOUTH
INTRODUCTION
A good mental health is the topmost requirement to live a happy life. If in the early years of an individual, a foundation of good mental health is established then it leads to optimal psychological development, better understanding of social responsibilities, effective learning ability to care for one self, healthy body and effective economic participation as adults. In order to provide a child good balance mental health parenting plays a vital role in it. A positive, peaceful and motivating environment at house leads to overall better development of a child than to quarrel full environment. Other than house and parents a child spend a lot of his or her time at schools and these schools should arrange educational services and school programs on mental health. The participation of schools and colleges can make students aware about the types of mental disorders and how they are different from each other (Radigan & Wang, 2013).
Psychological and behavioural disorders are not attached with any specific group: they can be seen in people of all ethnicity. According to WHO’s World Health Report 2001 around 450 million people suffer from mental disorders. WHO 2001 report also predicts that one individual out of four can develop one or more Psychological disorders during their complete lifespan. Mental disorders are broadly classified into different categories, many amongst them are by birth and many can develop at any point in life. Some studies suggest that adolescence under 18 years suffer from emotional and behavioural issues, out of eight one can have mental disorder; in disable children rate is one in five. Studies show that five of the ten major causes of disability worldwide are due to mental conditions which include alcohol use, depression, schizophrenia and obsessive compulsive disorder. Projections calculated that by the year 2020 neurological disorders will reach to 15% of disability throughout the world, depression solely will reach to 5.7% of DALYs, (Disability Adjusted Life Years) (Holm-Hadulla & Koutsoukou-Argyraki, 2015).
Now a day’s depression is the most commonly reported psychological problem in youth. According to the study it has been found that while half of all lifetime diagnose mental health problems starts by age 14, and only 50% of teenagers experiencing depression get a diagnosis before attaining adulthood. It is quite difficult to diagnose mental disorders as soon as possible, making easy the diminution of medical and societal costs (Cheng et al., 2016).
PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION AND EVIDENCE
Problem Statement
Probability of mental health problems amid University, College and School students is stipulated by the large number of visits and increase in extremity of visits to the Psychologists or Counseling Center. The menace is due to various biological and environmental strands and is medicated by experiences, social detachment and removal of parental control. These psychological problems can be pacify by help seeking behaviour’s, reach to mental health and counselling services, holistic perspectives to campus health and wellness, health awareness programs and entrench campaigns.
When it comes to mental stress which further leads to depression, is develop in every person due to different reasons. USA is a hub of education and big MNCs and hence it has a diverse population, due to this while most of the students are subjected to the similar pressures that college life brings, international students suffers problems that are particular to their “nationality” brought on by racial tension is the first, being the first in the family to go to abroad studies, and being seen as a family idol (Cheng et al., 2016).
Mental Health Problems Influence Youth
During 2014, 23% college students were diagnosed and helped by a mental health professional (ACHA-NCHA).
In 2014, 33% students were under medication for mental health problems and 48% of college students took counselling for mental health problems (ACHA-NCHA).
Suicide is the 3rd main reason of death in aged 15-24, as studied by CDC.
8.1% of college students actually contemplated suicide in 2014, while 1.3% attempted suicide (ACHA-NCHA).
In 2013 more than 25% of high school students delineated impairment in functioning attributable to feeling depressed (Biswas, 2014).
Project Purpose
50% of disease that America’s Youth dealing with is from mental disorder. Studies also suggests that students can be helped by on-campus counselling programs so that these problems can be identified and solved, and that on-campus help services can be facilitated together as a network and in a synchronized effort.
The Purpose of the project was to observe the effect of an outreach education campaign meant to enhance awareness of mental health services to students (Cheng et al., 2016).
Methods
The goal of the project is to make adolescents aware about their mental health issues. Therefore on reviewing many literature papers few got filtered and meet up the requirement of our project. The awareness can be carried out through various processes one among them is through media outreach which includes advertisements, and Campaigns. The program was socialize through outreach materials strategically placed throughout the campus where students mostly gather. The advertisement was carried out through newspapers, Web-based and hard copies of pamphlets (Cheng et al., 2016).
Pre-outreach campaign survey questions included age, gender, race, year in school, full or part time, and the following:
Are you aware that the university offers an on-campus Counseling Center?
- Are you aware of the Center’s location?
Do you know when the Center is open?
Have you or are you using these services?
Do you use other support services on campus for your mental health needs?
Do you use resources off campus or online to assist you with your mental health needs?
- If you were provided information about the on-campus Counseling Center services, would you consider using them or referring a friend to them in the future? (Cheng et al., 2016).
Similar question were asked in Post-outreach campaign survey but only to those who didn’t attended the pre survey. The work of pre and post survey was given to two different teams (Cheng et al., 2016).
Result
The outcome was positive after the advertisement and pre and post survey work. According to the literature, total 343 students participated in the pre campaign questionnaire, which build the foundation for awareness of mental health in the University and a total of 273 candidates participated in post campaign survey. Hence the method of spreading awareness in a university campus gives better knowledge of individual’s mental health status.
To increase the literature credibility, the PICOT question was developed- In primary care patients 18 or older, what is the obstacles awareness in mental health? (Cheng et al., 2016).
SIGNIFICANCE OF PROJECT
The project is important as mental health education among youth is stigma. Mostly people don’t pay much attention to problems related to mental disorders which leads to one of the major mental disorder that is “Depression”. Today’s adolescents are all living under lots of pressure of studies, work and family. As per the WHO, in North- America, around 15%-20% of teenagers are experiencing some form of mental disorder. The issue of adolescent suicide continue to worsen as the death rates continue to rise. Hence awareness about mental health and its initial symptoms can help an individual to identify the type of mental disorder and the required precautions can be taken before any severity occurs.
PICOT question- For adolescents between 14 to 18 years of age, what measure can be taken to improve their existing mental health?
Mental Health Awareness and Nursing Practice Role
In order to bring awareness among youth for mental health, it is important to train the people who will be taking care of children suffering from any kind of mental disorder. Any individual suffering from mental disorder or with psychological problems need lot of love care and affection. Therefore it is important that the nursing staff should be qualified enough to deal with these kind of patients. There is also the requirement to train more number of primary care workers, religious personnel, and community workers in basic child mental health diagnosis and treatment methods.There should be a procedure of examine work of every new intern on monthly basis, this will filter the quality staff. Even the low ranker staff must have skill of using basic equipment (“Treating mental health disorders in children and adolescents”, 2015).
BACKGROUND
According to studies 5% to 6% of adolescents suffer notable depression symptoms, while 30% to 35% suffer elevated symptoms that don’t reach criteria for the diagnosis of depression and other mental disorders (Thombs & Ziegelstein, 2014).
- The rates of considerable depression preadolescent children are only 2%, but the speed increases two to three-fold by adolescence and adulthood. According to research, every year around 157,000 young adults between the age group of 10 and 24 get medical aid for self-cause injuries at emergency departments throughout the US (Thombs & Ziegelstein, 2014).
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK OF PROJECT
When adolescents move from high school life to college life then there are many changes they undergo. For few teenagers these changes are not that stressful but for few others these changes can bring havoc to their life. There are many youngsters’ cases of stress, anxiety and depression which have been reported every year because they lack the ability to deal with the transition their life has going through. The phase of transition starts when teenagers withdraw themselves from their parents and start inculcated themselves in alcohol and drug consumption (Cheng et al., 2016).
The intoxicating habits develop because these youngsters could not able to cope up with the changes their life going through. The emotional intelligence during adolescent period is quite sensitive and it becomes hard for them to face the challenges of life. Many children choose the drastic step of committing suicide and it has become one of the teenagers death reason in last ten years. Studies suggest that children take these steps when they are not being educated about the mental health and its consequences (Cheng et al., 2016).
Youth suffer from different types of peer pressures on day to day basis such as peer education, peer mentoring, peer of society, peer of competition, bullying, racism, love, and withdrawn from closed ones. There are few theories which describe mental health of an individual through evidences (Robst, Armstrong & Dollard, 2013).
Attachment theory
The theory explains the connection of one individual with other. When an individual feels closeness with other person it develops the feeling of “need” with each other. The feeling of love and want are thought to be an essential human need, both from evolutionary point of view and a normal psychological development point of view. When an individual is accepted and appreciated by others the person feels warmth and security. Contrary to this rejection by others or loved ones can cause feeling of shame, hurting or anxiety. Bowlby’s research work on Attachment Theory concentrated on the relationship between infants and their caregivers. The theory explains that strong, love bond established in the early years were collaborated with person’s ability to develop close, trusting and emotionally secure relationships in adulthood through emotions of love and believe (Levy, 2013).
Prenatal and Infancy Home Visiting Program
There are proof- based mental health programs that focus early childhood through home visiting, which have positive results well into the children’s adolescence. The program influence completely on a range of behaviour’s consisting child abuse, conduct disorders and substance abuse. The Parent training programs such as “The incredible years”, where parents have been trained to deal with kids who are being victim of any abuse. The person who suffered any kind of abuse in their life will always goes to have “Trust issues” problem. These type of individuals require extra care, love and attention of their dear ones which can help them overcome the bad experiences of their past (Sturgeon, 2013).
Stigma in Mental health
Studies give proofs of the increase in frequency and extremity rates of mental health issues in college students. Evidences also say that some students (1) did not take aid with their mental health symptoms through on-campus mental health drives when such facilities were offered. (2) Reported that they did not know about the aids provide. (c) Knew about aids but did not use them out of shame for being judged.
Several college health and mental health committees suggest that nine college campus diagnose their student’s mental health wants through establishing a unified socio-ecological way, which inculcate social marketing campaigns to lift awareness of mental health aids and services offer on and near campus as part of total campus process of diagnosing mental health on campus (Cheng et al., 2016).
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CONCLUSION
The purpose of this DNP project was to evaluate the effect of exposure to an outreach campaign planned to lift awareness of mental health problems and given aids and resources to students. A sample of students was surveyed to identify a baseline of students awareness of aids, utilization of aids, and willingness to use aids. Then this was later compared to response of second sample of student surveyed after the campaign, who were also asked about their responses the other to campaign materials.. Other four objectives contained, one was met in full and the other three showed some better, although the target goals were not fully met. These education programs through any means of advertisement, social media and newspaper can help in spreading awareness camps and drives among their own college and can reduce and further abolish the rate of increase suicides causing to unstable mental health.
REFERENCES
Radigan, M., & Wang, R. (2013). Relationships Between Youth and Caregiver Strengths and Mental Health Outcomes in Community Based Public Mental Health Services. Community Mental Health Journal, 49(5), 499-506. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10597-011-9476-8
Holm-Hadulla, R., & Koutsoukou-Argyraki, A. (2015). Mental health of students in a globalized world: Prevalence of complaints and disorders, methods and effectivity of counseling, structure of mental health services for students. Mental Health & Prevention, 3(1-2), 1-4. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mhp.2015.04.003
Cheng, J., Benassi, P., De Oliveira, C., Zaheer, J., Collins, M., & Kurdyak, P. (2016). Impact of a mass media mental health campaign on psychiatric emergency department visits. Can J Public Health, 107(3), 303. http://dx.doi.org/10.17269/cjph.107.5265
Biswas, D. (2014). Comparative study on Health Awareness among the Urban and Rural Secondary School Students. Paripex – Indian Journal Of Research, 2(1), 38-41. http://dx.doi.org/10.15373/22501991/jan2013/14
Treating mental health disorders in children and adolescents. (2015). The Pharmaceutical Journal. http://dx.doi.org/10.1211/pj.2015.20067142
Thombs, B., & Ziegelstein, R. (2014). Does depression screening improve depression outcomes in primary care?. BMJ, 348(feb04 2), g1253-g1253. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.g1253
Robst, J., Armstrong, M., & Dollard, N. (2013). Peer contagion among youth in Medicaid-funded residential mental health treatment programs. Children And Youth Services Review, 33(5), 651-655. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2010.11.007
Levy, K. (2013). Introduction: Attachment Theory and Psychotherapy. Journal Of Clinical Psychology, 69(11), 1133-1135. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jclp.22040
Sturgeon, S. (2013). Promoting mental health as an essential aspect of health promotion. Health Promotion International, 21(suppl_1), 36-41. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/heapro/dal049