Ninth International Conference on Health, Wellness & Society

Abstract

It is important that people are able to develop and maintain their own positive mental health (MH). This is particularly true for young people who are vulnerable to the onset of MH problems, with 50% of adult mental health disorders established by the age of 14. Mental health promotion (MHP) can be effective at enhancing the mental health of this age group. Peer education in particular can be useful for supporting learning of skills, knowledge and behaviours as both learners and educators share a similar status (age) that increases relatability to a topic. In addition, because peer education supports engagement in learning, it is especially suited to teaching and learning about sensitive topics such as MH. The study reported here aims to develop and evaluate a MHP intervention delivered by undergraduate pharmacy students to high school students aged 13-14. Using the UK Medical Research Council guidelines for developing and evaluating complex interventions, stakeholder feasibility testing (pilot work) has been completed, the positive results are being used to inform the design of the final intervention, in conjunction with a scoping review and acceptability testing. Evaluation of the study is in the form of pre and post intervention MH knowledge and attitude questionnaires for both the high school pupils and the pharmacy students. A mental health stigma tool is additionally used with the high school pupils to measure impact.