Adolescent Girls’ Knowledge and Attitude About Mental Health Issues: A Questionnaire

Volume 1 - Issue 1

Prasenjit Ray¹*, Amrita Chakraborti³, Amit Kumar Bhattacharyya⁴, Paramita Ray⁴ and Asim Kumar Mallick²

Received: August 29, 2018;   Published: September 06, 2018

DOI: 10.32474/SJPBS.2018.01.000103

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Abstract

Background: The aims of this current study were to prepare and validate a Bengali questionnaire to assess knowledge and attitude of adolescents about the various mental health issues related to them, and to conduct a pilot study with this questionnaire.

Method: It was a cross sectional study conducted on adolescent school girls (N=107, 12 to 18years age) from rural background of West Bengal. A 13 item Bengali questionnaire was constructed, validated and administered on the subjects. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS (16th version).

Results: Most of the items had good test re-test reliability. Mean age of the population was 13.09 years. Three knowledgebased questions had more correct responses (50.5%, 52.3%, 50.5%) and one had 72% incorrect responses. Majority of the subjects recognised problem behaviours, expressed a helping attitude, tended to seek help from parents, and thought sharing worries with others and spending time with friends could make them happy.

Conclusions: This questionnaire appears reliable to assess knowledge and attitude of adolescent girls. There is need to inform adolescents about various mental health issues. Attitude to help and a sense of cohesion was conspicuous in this population. A larger and more inclusive study needed to generalize the findings.

Keywords: Adolescents; Awareness; Reliability

Abstract| Background| Aim| Method| Tools| Conduction of the Study| Result| Discussion| Conclusion| Adolescents’ Mental Health Awareness Questionnaire| References|