International Journal of School and Cognitive Psychology
Open Access

Abstract

Malawi Educators Assessment of Student Mental Health Outcomes

Kutcher S*, Gilberds H, Morgan C, Udedi M and Perkins K

Purpose: This paper presents teacher perceptions of life improvements achieved by students following the application of a school based curriculum mental health literacy resource in Malawi. Methods: Life improvement metrics were generated based on educators’ self-reported questionnaires obtained as part of the midterm evaluation of a larger youth Depression intervention project. These metrics include a stigma reduction variable, an improved behaviour at school variable, and a mental health related help-seeking variable. Results: Most teachers (81.3 %) reported a positive change in their students’ attitudes toward mental illness following exposure to the mental health literacy curriculum resource. Ninety-six percent of teachers reported improvement in student behaviours at school, and all teachers reported one or more mental health care related help seeking behaviours among students. Research Limitations: The sample size was relatively small and recruited from only two districts in Malawi. This is a pilot field implementation and will need to be expanded with larger numbers into a greater number of school districts in order to improve the robustness of the findings. Originality/value: To our knowledge this is the first study to examine teachers’ perspectives on student life improvement metrics related to mental health literacy in sub-Saharan Africa. This method of measuring the impact of school-based interventions on students in African schools may be a useful and culturally meaningful approach to youth mental health assessment.