Teachers can play a crucial role in identifying and responding to children’s mental health difficulties. This study explored teachers’ mental health literacy (MHL) and their help-giving responses, a topic which is relatively unexplored, particularly at primary school level. Primary teachers (N = 356) responded to a questionnaire that followed the presentation of each of three vignettes: a non-clinical, control, vignette and two clinical vignettes. One of the clinical vignettes described a child with generalised anxiety disorder and another described a child with depression. Mixed-methods questioning was used to assess teachers’ ability to recognise internalising disorders and their help-giving responses. Most participants were able to recognise a child experiencing an internalising disorder, with 84% accurately identifying anxiety and 71% accurately identifying depression. Multiple regression analyses showed that being female and having more exposure to mental illness were significantly associated with greater concern for affected children. Greater concern and confidence in one’s ability to help students in need were significantly associated with teachers’ intention to offer support. More years of teaching experience was associated with less help-giving intentions. MHL training for teachers is recommended so as to improve their ability to identify and respond to children’s mental health difficulties in a timely manner.

教师可以在识别和应对儿童的心理健康困难方面发挥关键作用。本研究探讨了教师的心理健康素养 (MHL) 及其提供帮助的反应，这是一个相对未被探索的话题，尤其是在小学阶段。小学教师 ( N= 356) 回答了一份问卷，该问卷在三个小插曲中的每一个呈现之后：非临床、对照、小插曲和两个临床小插曲。其中一个临床案例描述了一名患有广泛性焦虑症的儿童，另一则描述了一名患有抑郁症的儿童。混合方法提问被用来评估教师识别内化障碍的能力和他们提供帮助的反应。大多数参与者能够识别出正在经历内化障碍的儿童，其中 84% 准确识别焦虑，71% 准确识别抑郁。多元回归分析表明，身为女性和更多地接触精神疾病与对受影响儿童的更大关注显着相关。对一个人帮助有需要的学生的能力的更大关注和信心与教师提供支持的意图显着相关。更多年的教学经验与更少的帮助意图相关。建议对教师进行MHL培训，提高教师及时发现和应对儿童心理健康问题的能力。