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A multifaceted intervention to improve mental health literacy in students of a multicampus university: a cluster randomised trial

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Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of the current study was to assess whether a multifaceted intervention could improve mental health literacy, facilitate help seeking and reduce psychological distress and alcohol misuse in students of a multicampus university in Melbourne, Australia.

Methods

In this cluster randomized trial, nine university campuses were paired (some pairs included more than one campus), with one of each pair randomly assigned to either the intervention or control condition. The interventions were designed to be whole-of-campus and to run over 2 academic years with their effectiveness assessed through recruitment of a monitoring sample of students from each campus. Interventions included emails, posters, campus events, factsheets/booklets and mental health first aid training courses. Participants had a 20-min telephone interview at baseline and at the end of academic years 1 and 2. This assessed mental health literacy, help seeking, psychological distress and alcohol use. The primary outcomes were depression and anxiety levels and alcohol use and pertained to the individual level.

Results

There were no effects on psychological distress and alcohol use. Recall of intervention elements was greater in the intervention group at the end of year 2. Students in the intervention group were more likely to say they would go to a drug and alcohol centre for alcohol problems at the end of 6 months.

Conclusion

Although education and awareness may play a role in improving mental health literacy, it is likely that, to achieve changes in psychological distress, interventions would need to be more personalized and intensive.

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Acknowledgments

Funding for the study was provided by beyondblue and by the NHMRC Australia Fellowship awarded to AFJ. We would particularly like to acknowledge Fiona Blee for her work on implementing the MindWise interventions. We would also like to thank Prof John McCallum for championing the trial at Victoria University, Dr Darko Hajzler for his assistance in implementing the interventions and Prof Dan Lubman for his advice on the assessment of alcohol misuse and the implementation of interventions to address this.

Conflict of interest

None declared.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Orygen Youth Health Research Centre, Centre for Youth Mental Health and Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, 207 Bouverie St, Parkville, VIC, 3010, Australia

    Nicola J. Reavley, Stefan Cvetkovski & Anthony F. Jorm

  2. College of Health and Biomedicine, Victoria University, St Albans Campus, Building 4, Level 3, PO Box 14428, Melbourne, 8001, Australia

    Terence V. McCann

Authors
  1. Nicola J. Reavley
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  2. Terence V. McCann
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  3. Stefan Cvetkovski
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  4. Anthony F. Jorm
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Correspondence to Nicola J. Reavley.

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Reavley, N.J., McCann, T.V., Cvetkovski, S. et al. A multifaceted intervention to improve mental health literacy in students of a multicampus university: a cluster randomised trial. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 49, 1655–1666 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-014-0880-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-014-0880-6

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