Knowledge, attitude and practice on mental health among school children of a district located in western india

Background: Enhanced understanding of mental health and mental disorders, improved knowledge of how to obtain assistance and care and decreased stigma towards mental illness at individual or community level right from the childhood and institutional levels including schools can facilitate early recognition of mental disorders, improve mental health outcomes, and increase the use of health services. The study was carried out to assess the Knowledge, Attitude and Practice regarding mental health among School Children of a district located in Western India.
Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted in rural and tribal population among school children residing in a block of a district of Western India during the year of 2015. 12 villages were randomly selected and five school children studying in the village school from eighth standard onwards were studied, in all 60 school going children were interviewed through a semi-structured questionnaire which was pilot tested. Informed verbal consent was obtained and confidentiality was maintained. The data was entered in STATA software and statistical tests applied were Chi-squared “t” test and ANOVA apart from descriptive statistics.
Results: The 50th percentile knowledge and attitude-practice among school children were 55.77% and 63.64% respectively. The mean score of correct overall knowledge regarding various aspects of mental health and illness was 56.26. There was no gender difference in the scores. Nearly half of them believed that temple, faith healing/quack (Bhuva, Bhagat) were options for treatment. Majority (96%) of them were aware of medicines as options for treatment.
Conclusions/Recommendations: A tailored made intervention developed in collaboration with psychiatrist and public health expert on mental health for school children to bridge the gaps in KAP as indentified by the study can be useful. If pilot testing of this program shows improvement then it should be included in the curriculum.