Assessment of mental health literacy among Makerere University non-medical students

Abstract

Introduction: Despite the increasing prevalence of mental health disorders, many people do not seek help due to lack of knowledge on mental health and negative attitudes towards help-seeking. University non-medical students who may be in a position to help themselves or their friends but lack the knowledge and skills to do so effectively are a key population thereof. Assessing mental health literacy among this population is critical as it can influence the utilization of evidence-based mental health care, particularly among non-medical students who have not been a topic of earlier study in Uganda. Objective; To assess the mental health literacy among Makerere University non-medical students Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted on a random sample of 365 non-medical students using a quantitative approach. Descriptive statistics were used to determine mental health literacy among non-medical students in Makerere University. Results: The average age of the respondents was 22.26 years (22.26±1.634), majority were male 184 (50.4%) and reported no history of a mental health disorder 300 (82.2%). Majority of the respondents 282 (77.3%) had moderate knowledge on mental health. Only 138 (37.8%) had positive perceptions on mental health and few, 50 (13.7%) had positive attitudes towards people with MHD. Mental health literacy was high in only 45 (12.3%) students and was significantly associated with being a female (aOR= 0.422, P= 0.014) and having a history of a mental disorder (aOR= 2.485, P= 0.012). Conclusion: This study revealed that most of the non-medical university students have poor mental health-related knowledge, negative perceptions and attitudes towards people with mental health disorder. There is need to introduce mental health course units to every academic program at the university to improve mental health literacy.