Enhancing warning signs of mental health literacy: Evaluating a digital base intervention for health profession students

Background: Despite its importance, Mental health literacy (MHL) among nursing and other health profession students often remains inadequate, potentially impacting their future roles as healthcare providers. This inadequacy can lead to delayed or inappropriate care for individuals with mental health concerns, perpetuating adverse outcomes and increasing the burden on healthcare systems. Aim: To evaluate a digital-based intervention designed to enhance the warning signs of mental health literacy among health profession students. Design: A quasi-experimental, one-group pretest-posttest study design was used to conduct the current study. Methods: A non-randomized trial was conducted using digital mental health literacy intervention about the warning signs of mental illness (DWS), involving a convenience sample of 493 undergraduate health profession students. Mental Health Literacy Survey About Warning Signs of Mental Illness was developed and validated to measure the participants' mental health literacy before and after the intervention. Results: Almost all Warning Signs of Mental Illness Literacy items were significantly increased from pre- to post-intervention. Both sub-sums representing the knowledge subscale (items 1 to 11) and attitude subscale (items 12 to 15) significantly increased to 4.4 (CI 3.7, 5.0) and 0.7 (CI 0.5, 0.9), respectively. Differences were more extensive and significant on the knowledge subscale items 0.4 (CI 0.3, 0.5) than on the attitude subscale mean items 0.2 (CI 0.1, 0.2). Conclusion: The DWS is an effective and easy-to-use education program for health profession students. The current study is an initial step toward building a body of knowledge about mental health literacy in the region.