Portuguese university students with less mental health literacy are more psychologically vulnerable than their peers who are well-informed in this area. A study by researchers from CINTESIS – Center for Health Technology and Services Research and ESEP – Nursing School of Porto, published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, focused on students from different Higher Education institutions and programs in Mainland Portugal and the Islands, such as Education, Arts, Tourism, Architecture, and Communication.
In total, 3189 students with an average age of 24 responded to questions aimed at assessing “positive mental health, psychological vulnerability, and mental health literacy.” Factors such as personal satisfaction, self-control, autonomy, problem-solving and interpersonal relationship skills were also analyzed.
The results of the study show that university students with more mental health literacy are also those with more positive mental health. This confirms the association between knowledge and the possibility of taking action to improve one’s own mental health and that of others.
“This association can be explained by demystifying the stigma still attached to mental health and that constitutes a barrier to eventual treatment. On the contrary, greater knowledge prepares young people to deal with the changes that occur throughout life, making them less vulnerable from a psychological point of view,” explains the researcher.
According to the same study, most students in Higher Education institutions have high or medium levels of positive mental health, but male students report greater personal satisfaction and autonomy. On the other hand, most students with low levels of positive mental health are female. “These differences between personal satisfaction and autonomy among men and women should be explored in the future”, says Carlos Sequeira, regarding these data.
The authors also observed lower levels of positive mental health in students holding a scholarship, which indicates that receiving “social support” is clearly “a key protective factor”. In turn, university students displaced from their home/area of residence have worse outcomes in this domain, specifically regarding self-control. “People studying in a new city may lack the resources and a family support network,” he indicates.
The researchers conclude by recalling that it is essential to identify vulnerable groups and to implement strategies for positive mental health promotion in school settings, with the involvement of health professionals such as nurses, psychologists, psychiatrists, among others.
This research was funded by CINTESIS and the Portuguese Society of Mental Health Nursing (ASPESM). It was authored by researchers Sónia Teixeira (first author), Carlos Sequeira (NursID group lead researcher), Regina Pires, José Carlos Carvalho, Isilda Ribeiro, Carolina Sequeira, Teresa Rodrigues, Francisco Sampaio and Tiago Costa from CINTESIS, together with Carme Ferré-Grau (Universitat Rovira y Virgili Tarragona) and Maria Teresa Luch i Canut (University of Barcelona), from Spain.
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