Should it be compulsory for mental health to be taught in schools?

Natasha Jones

Introduction

Discussions about mental health has been prevalent in the 20th century resulting in more people

becoming aware of its common nature and thus realizing its norm. Shaffer (1999) found that 90% of

children and adolescents suffer from mental illness or have committed suicide. If we could educate

children where to find support and have the right crisis procedures, we could reduce the percentage

of children suffering from mental illness and suicide rates among the youth.

Mental Health Foundation’s (2002) statistics page reveal that the UK shows one of the highest rates

of self-harm in Europe: 400 per 100,000 population. Similarly if children were educated and support

groups were put in place that would provide a safe environment to discuss distressing issues with

the aid of trained mental health professionals, the rate of self-harm could also be reduced.

The aim of this research is find out the public’s opinion on whether mental health should be

compulsory to be taught in schools. Evidence found in this research will go towards supporting the

petition ‘To make it compulsory mental health is to be taught in schools’ and any highlighted aspects

to be investigated such as bullying.

Method

Participants

100 participants were recruited using volunteer sampling. Participant age and gender were absent

from the questionnaire as the information is irrelevant to the question. All participants however

have experienced at least secondary school level of education.

Materials

Custom created questionnaires were formulated on the website Survey Monkey. Participants used a

computer with internet access to answer the 9 questions on the questionnaire (See in Appendix A).

Procedure

The ‘Mental Health’ questionnaire was first created using Survey Monkey (3/4/14 till 6/4/14 ) with a

mixture of closed and open ended questions. At the start of the questionnaire there was a short

description on what the research entailed:

‘-In 2010, males ages 15 to 19 were nearly four times more likely to commit suicide, six times more

likely to be victims of homicide, and eight times more likely to be involved in a firearm-related death

than were females of the same age.

-One study found that more than 90 percent of children and adolescents who committed suicide had

some type of mental disorder.

This questionnaire is now asking what your opinion is on the current state of mental health and what

do you think can be done to improve support, reduce suicide and increase awareness at school.

Questionnaire is completely anonymous and if you have any questions please email me at:

w0h82@students.keele.ac.uk

(Above statistics are from: http://www.childtrends.org/?indicators=teen-homicide-suicide-and-

firearm-deaths)’

The questionnaire was advertised on various social networking websites such as Facebook, Twitter

and Wordpress. Also the questionnaire was emailed to students who attend Keele University. After

100 respondents had replied to the questionnaire, the data was analysed using bar graphs for closed

questions and thematic analysis for open questions.

A separate poll asking participants about their opinion on how mental health should be taught was

created on Word Press (see Appendix B for results).

Results and discussion

Table 1.

Recorded responses for experiencing mental health problems in school

Table 1 reflects that there were a high number of participants who suffered from mental illness and

stress related difficulties whilst at school. Which even though this selection of participants may not

be representative of the whole population, it is still quite a large number considering there are 100

participants taking part with 75% responding yes to the above question. However, biases must be

taken into account as the questionnaire was titled ‘mental health’, leading to a biased sample of

individuals who have experienced mental health difficulties.

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

80.0%

Yes No

Per

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Recorded response

Q1 ) When you was in school did you experience any mental health problems or stress related difficulties?

Table 2.

Recorded responses on did individuals with mental health problems know where to receive support

Table 2 asks a follow on question from the question asked in Table 1. Which even though there

appears to be less people saying they did not know who to contact to receive support compared to

Table 1 reflecting 75% of participants suffering from mental illness. There was still 50% of

participants in this questionnaire who were ill informed of support. In the original data set, N/A was

also an option for this question but not included in this graph as it is irrelevant to our question.

A possible issue with this question is that we are relying on the participant’s memory to recall

whether they did know who to contact at the time. Therefore this data could arguably be invalid in

both response options, due to memory decay.

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

Yes No

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Recorded responses

Q2) If so did you know who to contact to receive support?

Table 3.

Recorded responses if participants felt that it would have been helpful to be informed of support

Table 3 contains the recorded responses of whether the participants felt that it would have been

helpful to know where to get support when they suffered from mental health difficulties. Similarly to

Table 2, the N/A category has been ignored for this graph. Table 3 appears to correspond better to

Table 1 than the previous table. This suggests that participants may have wanted to know where to

receive more support even if they previously received it at school. Or that they were unsure if they

knew where to receive support whilst they was at school, therefore chose yes on this question as

they felt it would have been beneficial to be informed.

Participants who responded with no on this question may have had very supportive parents who

knew contacts already or they may have felt that by educating where to find support could have

negative consequences (see question 4 and 5 in thematic analysis).

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

80.0%

Yes No

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Recorded responses

Q3) If you suffered from mental health problems at school, do you think that it would have been helpful to you to know

where you could get support?

Table 4.

Recorded responses of whether participants feel mental health is stigmatised

Question 6 asked the participants if they felt that mental health is stigmatized (this question was

also paired with an open question, analysis of the open question can be found in the thematic

analysis section). Most participants answered the question with yes, reflecting that there still needs

to be a reduction in the stigma currently surrounding mental health.

The participants who chose no for this question either haven’t experienced mental illness

(themselves or know people who suffer from mental illness). Or they have not been subjected to

what the majority have in this questionnaire, as 90% of participants agreed that mental health is

stigmatized.

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

80.0%

90.0%

100.0%

Yes No

Per

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Recorded responses

Q6) Do you feel that mental health is stigmatized?

Table 5.

Recorded responses of the participants opinion on teaching mental health

Question 8 asked participants their opinions on how mental health should be taught in the

classroom. The suggestion list of lessons provided in the question were: citizenship, R.E or biology.

The majority agreed that mental health should be a part of a lesson plan and in one of the subjects

listed in the title. However, some participants felt that mental health should be taught in other areas

such as PSHE, form time and group discussions. Also some participants commented with their

concerns on teaching children mental health in a biology lessons, that it might be too complex for

young individuals to learn.

The participants who responded no to this question felt that negative consequences may arise if

mental health was to be taught in schools (see question 4 and 5 in thematic analysis for more details

on this theme).

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

Yes Yes but not part of asubject

Yes but not the subjectslisted (add in thecomments box)

No

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Recorded responses

Q8) Do you feel that teaching mental health to children should be compulsory and part of a lesson plan?

Below states the thematic analysis of ‘Mental Health’ questionnaire that was conducted on Survey

Monkey from 3/4/14 till 6/4/14 with 100 participants obtained through social networking. All

participants are anonymous and specific quotes will be deleted if desired.

Contact Natasha on: w0h82@students.keele.ac.uk

Q4 ‘Sexual health is taught across the UK in schools. Do you feel teaching mental health to children

would be helpful?’ and Q5 ‘What would be the benefits by teaching children about mental health?’

Theme Description Total

Contact Students are aware of who to get in touch with if they need support. Quote example: ‘Yes, as by informing people about it they will be more aware of symptoms and who they can go to for help and advice about mental health’

32

Support for others By educating students about mental health this will in turn help with aiding their friends and overall see a more realistic picture of mental health in the youth. Quote example: ‘Would help students to be able to support and guide their friends who may be struggling.’

25

Awareness/stigma Students are aware of the signs of mental illnesses thus can identify if they need help. Also education will lead to reduction in stigmatization possibly throughout their lives. Quote example: ‘Most definitely, there seems to be a stigma on mental health which makes young people embarrassed and hide away from their problems’

69

Negative aspects Some concerns with educating children of mental health could be bullying, ‘attention seekers’ and overall no improvement would be made. Quote example: ‘To some degree but it would have to be carefully scripted to avoid possible bullying or be seen as a weakness’

4

The most dominant reoccurring theme present in question 4 and 5 appears to be that students will

gain more awareness of mental health and possibly there will be a reduction in stigma due to

education. The second most reoccurring theme in the comments is that through awareness,

students will be more knowledgeable of where to contact for support should they ever need it.

An interesting theme that arose from thematic analysis was that, participants felt that through

education of mental health students would be able to support and understand their friends more if

the case of mental illness arises. One comment also suggested that through education, we could

obtain a more accurate overall picture of how many students are affected by mental illness – as

more would be aware of where to receive support.

Four individuals brought up negative aspects which may arise if mental health was to be taught in

schools e.g an increase in bullying. Anti-bullying campaigns are already present in most schools and

additional protection could be put in place to reduce bullying to vulnerable individuals, such as

different sanctions. When bullying involves racism, the perpetrators are usually dealt with very

seriously. The same sanctions should be in place if the victim discloses that the bully has been

insensitive about their mental illness to the pastoral team. While this may not help in all cases, the

stigma of mental illness needs to be reduced so that people can freely talk about their issues and not

be the victim because of it.

Q6 ‘Do you feel that mental health is stigmatized? And if so, how could we reduce the stigma in a

school environment?’

Theme Description Total

Education Teach children about mental health in a classroom based activity. Quote example: ‘Teach the children that mental illness is much more common than they think.’

26

Talking Have open talks and discussions in form time or mini sessions out of class. Quote example: ‘Talking about it - like the LGBT movement’

11

Examples Using examples of public figures when conversing about mental health. Quote example: ‘Make it something that is discussed more - bring in people to talk about their previous experiences with mental health ‘

3

Most participants answered this question with yes with regards to feeling mental health is

stigmatised. Education appears to be the majority opinion on how to reduce stigma in a school

environment, possibly because it provides interactions between their fellow peers and teacher

resulting in a greater understanding of each other. The mental health poll (see appendix B) reflects

that the public feel that interactive classroom activities would be most beneficial.

In addition, support groups within classes or outside of classes could also be set up so that through

discussion students could talk about their life experiences, how they have overcome them and be

there to support their peers.

Whilst educating students about mental health, it could be beneficial to use examples of celebrities

who have experienced mental health problems, this could make the concept of mental health more

‘real’ and their feelings are not imagination – that it can happen to anybody.

Q7 ‘How can the support that schools currently provide be improved?’

Theme Description Total

Awareness Increase awareness of mental health, leads to reduced stigma, understanding where to go if help is needed and creates a greater overall understanding of mental health in general. Quote example: ‘Raise more awareness, more information displayed or taught to those in a school environment via guest talkers etc.’

22

Mental Health experts Have more mental health experts such as school counsellors (they should be present at every school), one to one sessions and mental health specialist visits. Quote example: ‘An increased number of child mental health specialists would mean under 18's could receive a form of counselling and diagnosis without needing to rely on GP's or parents initially’

32

Teachers education Teachers to be more informed, less patronizing, empathic, knowledge in signposting and awareness of mental health. Quote example: ‘Starting with external teachers, and gradually training some, then all, teachers to be able to actively listen and discuss mental health issues with children. ‘

25

Identification Increasing training of staff so that mental health can be easily identified – thus

4

treatment and interventions can be started before conditions worsen/or the consequences of undiagnosis occurs. Quote example: ‘Not write off children who are troublesome/ misunderstood as just being hindrances. Schools should delve deeper and assess if it is the result of an underlying illness. I.e. my boyfriend was expelled from school for being badly behaved / difficult, to later be diagnosed with schizophrenia. If this had been determined earlier, he may of stood a chance and got help from the school - as a result he is now in his early 20s with 0 qualifications.’

Interesting points

HE + FE issue

After school club?

Prevents stereotyping

Compulsory ‘life education class’

The most popular opinion on how services in schools can improve in supporting mental health is

through the interaction with more mental health professionals such as guest visit days, one to one

sessions and more school counsellors in every school. The guest visit days would also raise

awareness of mental health and in turn inform students of who to contact if they feel they need

help.

Another popular opinion is that teachers should be educated in mental health, possibly on where to

signpost students and be aware of how to identify students who could be in the need of help. First

aiders could also be educated in mental health so that if crisis occurs they would know how to deal

with the situation.

Comments in the questionnaire also suggested that mental health needs to also be addressed in

higher education and further education – which is something we could look into in the nearby

future. After school support sessions have been previously mentioned in this document and

prevention of stereotyping/bullying as well. One comment also mentioned that mental health could

be taught in a ‘Life Class’, which I assume would also inform students of sexual health, educate them

about work life, finances, work experience (optional) and university etc. Personally I find this

suggestion rather applicable for the current state of the job market. All schools provide an

opportunity for work experience but they seem to not continue to promote this throughout school

life. Some professions such as being a doctor require extensive amount of work experience. So

whilst ‘Life class’ will help with awareness of mental health, ‘Life class’ could also help to enhance

their future job prospects – even if they don’t know what they want to do, the transferable skills

they learn will aid them in the long term.

Conclusion

In conclusion, with regards to the public’s opinion the petition should aim to address reducing

stigma of mental health by raising awareness in schools through interactive classroom activities,

optional support groups, guest visit days of mental health professionals, appropriate training for first

aiders, identification training for teachers and more refined procedures in place to protect

vulnerable individuals from bullying. And possibly suggest the concept of a compulsory ‘Life class’

where aspects of mental health could be taught in.

References

Mental Health Foundation (2002). Mental Health Statistics: Self-harm. Retrieved April 7, 2014, from

http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/help-information/mental-health-statistics/self-harm/?view=Standard

Shaffer, D., & Craft, L., (1999). Methods of adolescent suicide prevention. Journal of Clinical

Psychiatry, 60(Suppl. 2), 70-74. Retrieved April 7, 2014, from:

http://www.healthri.org/disease/violence/vppsuicide_shaffer.htm

Appendix A: Questionnaire

Appendix B: Mental Health Poll