Students’ Mental Health Literacy in One State University as Basis for Strategic Action Areas

This study determined the level of students’ mental health literacy as basis for strategic action areas. It employed sequential explanatory design that incorporates two phases. In selecting the respondent, the researcher used stratified proportional sampling on the first phase and purposive sampling on the second phase. The study involved 380 students for the quantitative phase and 10 for the qualitative phase who came from the different campuses of one state university in Southern Luzon area. The researcher utilized a standardized assessment tool known as Mental Health Literacy for Students (MHL-S) and in- depth interview guide. Correlation was used to assess the quantitative data and thematic analysis using grounded theory for the qualitative data. Most of the respondents were female, who were in their senior years in college and with knowledge about the relevance of mental health. Results showed that respondents’ mental health literacy was high although they have average ability not to be affected by stereotypes and erroneous beliefs. The students’ mental health literacy was significantly different when grouped according to sex which suggests that gender norms may affect its development. The university should consider the students’ mental aptitude in establishing the importance of mental health literacy. It is recommended that the university should have strategic action areas that may develop students’ mental health literacy to become an upright and productive citizen.

Keywords: mental health aptitude, mental health literacy, strategic action areas