Objective:

The under-utilisation of mental health services by populations because of inadequate mental health education by community leaders and the public is of concern. The primary purpose of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of brief 1-day workshops in educating the public about mental health.

Design:

Quantitative pre–post evaluation.

Setting:

Community-based mental health workshops in urban Jamaica.

Method:

A survey on awareness of mental health resources was completed by 39 community leaders. In addition, 204 participants, who attended three 1-day public educational workshops, anonymously completed evaluations of workshop objectives including met expectations, stimulated learning, and workshop strengths and weaknesses. Of these participants, 157 completed pre–post workshop evaluations to identify subjective improvements in knowledge and competency.

Results:

Almost 60% of community leaders reported being in regular contact with persons who expressed poor emotional well-being, but typically only referred 25%–30% for mental health counselling. The workshops on mental health education, facilitated by faith-based organisations, were well subscribed by the public and most participants rated them favourably. Significantly more participants reported satisfaction with the workshops on Parenting Practices compared to Workplace Wellness (p < .05). Wilcoxon Signed Rank tests revealed higher mean scores overall on post-workshop evaluation indicating gain in knowledge and competency; mean pre-test score, 3.26 (0.77), and post-test, 4.38 (0.48), p < .000.

Conclusion:

One-day mental health education workshops met public expectations and resulted in subjective gains in knowledge and competency. Research is needed to clarify the specific benefits of using public education workshops supported by faith-based organisations to promote mental health.

中文翻译：

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利用基于信仰的组织向牙买加服务水平低下的人群推广心理健康教育

目的：

令人关注的是，由于社区领导人和公众对精神卫生教育不足，导致人们对精神卫生服务的利用不足。这项研究的主要目的是评估为期1天的简短研讨会对公众进行心理健康教育的有用性。

设计：

事前定量评估。

设置：

在牙买加市区举办的社区精神卫生讲习班。

方法：

39位社区领导人完成了对心理健康资源意识的调查。此外，参加了三个为期1天的公共教育研讨会的204位参与者匿名完成了对研讨会目标的评估，包括达到了期望，激发学习以及研讨会的长处和短处。在这些参与者中，有157个完成了研讨会前的评估，以识别知识和能力的主观提升。

结果：

几乎60％的社区领导者报告说他们经常与情绪低落的人保持联系，但通常仅提及25％–30％的人进行心理健康咨询。在以信仰为基础的组织的推动下，有关精神健康教育的讲习班受到了公众的广泛欢迎，大多数参加者对此给予了好评。与工作场所健康相比，更多的参与者表示对育儿实践研讨会感到满意（p  <.05）。Wilcoxon的Signed Rank测试显示，车间评估后的总体平均分更高，表明知识和能力得到了提高。测试前平均得分为3.26（0.77），测试后平均得分为4.38（0.48），p  <.000。

结论：

为期一天的心理健康教育讲习班达到了公众的期望，并在主观上获得了知识和能力。需要进行研究以阐明使用基于信仰的组织支持的公共教育研讨会来促进心理健康的具体好处。