Ontario youth mental health literacy and social determinants

Abstract

Mental health literacy includes: recognizing mental health problems and illnesses; knowing how to locate accurate mental health information and professional help; risk factors and causes of mental health problems or illnesses; self-help techniques; promoting help-seeking; and the ability to build and maintain good mental health (Jorm et al., 1997; Kutcher & Wei, 2015; Kutcher et al., 2016; Marinucci, Grové & Allen, 2022). Currently, the Ontario Health and Physical Education curriculum requires the introduction of mental health literacy topics however, students are only required to take one credit in Health and Physical Education, therefore, they are not receiving most of the mental health curriculum. Therefore, what do Ontario youth know about mental health and how do they obtain mental health information? What do Ontario youth want to know about mental and how would they like that information disseminated? What gaps currently exist in mental health literacy programs? Methods: An online survey with demographic and open-ended questions about mental health, mental illness and the social determinants of health. Results: Ontario youth are not satisfied with the education they received about mental health, and mental health problems or illnesses. They also believe that school is a good place to learn about mental health, and would like interactive workshops to disseminate the information.