Mental health literacy among secondary school teachers in the City of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality, Gauteng, South Africa

Abstract

School mental health care in South Africa forms part of the primary health care package in the form of an integrated programme for the promotion of school health. However, there appears to be a limitation in teacher mental health literacy, which may not meet the needs of South African secondary school youth in terms of coverage and uptake. The aim with the study reported on here was to explore secondary school teachers’ mental health literacy in the City of Ekurhuleni, using a cross‐sectional descriptive design. In total, 132 secondary school teachers participated in this study. A mental health literacy assessment was conducted using 4 vignettes, each scoring 1 for a total of 4, with a mean score of 1.23 (SD = 0.96) obtained. For the assessment of depression literacy, a 22-item questionnaire scored out of 22 was used, with a mean score of 10.65 (SD = 3.21) observed. Overall, the study results reveal a low mental health literacy level and a poor ability to identify the clinical features of depression among secondary school teachers in the City of Ekurhuleni. It is imperative that teachers become more aware of the mental health of their learners. We propose that the pre-service and in-service training curriculum of teachers include training on the identification of mental health systems.