Περίληψη:
Background: Although the promotion of mental health (MHP) through
education and training is widely accepted, there is scarce evidence for
its effectiveness in the literature from outcome studies worldwide. The
present study aimed to assess the effect of a three-semester MHP
educational program on the recipients’ opinions towards mental illness
and on their own self-assessed health.
Methods: Respondents were 78 attendees who completed the assessment
battery at the first (baseline) and the last session (end) of the
training course. They were primary care physicians or other
professionals, or key community agents, working in the greater Athens
area. The course consisted of 44 sessions (4 h each), over a 3-semester
period, focusing on the principles and methods of mental health
promotion, the main aspects of major psychiatric disorders, and on
relevant to health skills. Assessment instruments included the Opinion
about Mental Illness (OMI) scale and the General Health Questionnaire
(GHQ-28).
Results: The mean scores of three OMI factors, that is, social
discrimination, social restriction and social integration, and the two
GHQ-28 subscales, that is, anxiety/insomnia and social dysfunction, were
significantly improved by the end of the training course.
Conclusions: The results of this study provide evidence, with
limitations, for the short-term effectiveness of the implemented
educational MHP program on an adult group of recipients-key agents in
their community. Because interventions for strengthening positive
opinions about mental illness and enhancing self-assessed health
constitute priority aims of mental health promotion, it would be
beneficial to further investigate the sustainability of the observed
positive changes. In addition it would be useful to examine (a) the
possible interplay between the two outcome measures, that is, the effect
of opinions of recipients about mental health on their perceived health,
and (b) the applicability of this intervention in individuals with
different sociodemographic profiles.
Συγγραφείς:
Tomaras, Vlassis D.
Ginieri-Coccossis, Maria
Vassiliadou, Maria
and Malliori, Melpomeni
Ferentinos, Spyros
Soldatos, Constantin
R.
Tylee, Andre
