Evaluation of a school-based mental health literacy program for youth aged 12 to 16 years

INTERVENTION: Youth Education and Support (YES) is a mental health literacy program developed by Professor Joanne Riebschleger over a span of 12 years based on relevant literature, recommendations from mental health professionals and the perspectives of young people. The program has been adapted to suit an Australian context based on feedback from health care professionals, youth, researchers and educators. The group intervention includes 10 weekly sessions of 50 minutes duration each. It is designed to be delivered within a school setting by trained facilitators with expertise of working with young people. This trial will evaluate the program's effectiveness in Australian school settings for youth aged 12 to 16 years old. The Australian adapted YES program includes activities and discussions related to specific mental health and wellbeing topics for each session. The topics are as follows: ‐ Understanding mental illness, including risks/causes and specific mental health disorders ‐ The effects of mental illness on families ‐ The recovery process from mental illness ‐ Stress management and coping strategies ‐ Promoting emotionally healthy behaviours ‐ Responding to stigma and stereotypes (related to mental illness) ‐ How to seek help for mental health difficulties and what the process of therapy can look like The intervention will be delivered by provisional psychologists completing the Masters of Psychology program at Monash University. The facilitators will receive training from the researchers prior to the program consisting of an approximately 4 hour workshop. Three facilitators will deliver the program to groups, in which two will deliver the program and the other will observe and complete a fidelity measure each session. Outc CONDITION: Mental Health ‐ Studies of normal psychology, cognitive function and behaviour Mental health; ; Mental health Public Health ‐ Health promotion/education SECONDARY OUTCOME: Coping ; ; Coping will be measured using qualitative questions included in the content of the program and the End of Program Evaluation measure. In the second session of the program, participants are asked to discuss and write their current coping strategies. At the end of the YES program, participants will be asked to respond to questions on the End of Program Evaluation measure. These questions aim to measure changes in coping (e.g. "Are there any coping skills you have learnt during the YES program?", "Has your knowledge of coping and coping strategies changed throughout the YES program?").[In the second session of program ; At end of program (at the end of the 10th session ‐ primary endpoint) ; involvement in the YES program”) and open‐ended questions (e.g. “What was challenging ; during your involvement in the YES program?”).[After end of the program] Fidelity Observer Instrument: The Fidelity Instrument was designed and created to be used with the YES program. It consists of ratings of facilitator fidelity and general observations of youth participants to be completed by the observer during the sessions.[At end of each session of program] Primary outcome: Resilience ; ; Resilience will be measured using the 14 item Resilience Scale (RS‐14). This scale has been validated within an adolescent sample and has a Flesch‐Kincaid Grade score of 4.9. Items are measured along a 7‐point Likert scale with statements rated from Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree (e.g., “I can usually find something to laugh about.”). Lower ; scores indicate lower levels of resilience.[At beginning of program (approximately 1 week before program ‐ baseline data) ; At end of program (at the end of the 10th session ‐ primary endpoint) ; 3 months post‐program (follow up)] INCLUSION CRITERIA: Young person attending school PRIMARY OUTCOME: Primary outcome: Change in Stigma; ; Stigma will be measured using the Knowledge of Mental Illness and Recovery (K‐MIR) scale. This scale has been validated within a US sample. It measures young people's knowledge of mental illness, stigma and recovery. The scale consists of 35 items and takes approximately 11‐14 minutes to complete. It is designed for young people aged 10‐16 years old with a 4.8 reading level. Subscales include mental illness, stigma and recovery.[At beginning of program (approximately 1 week before program ‐ baseline data); At end of program (at the end of the 10th session ‐ primary endpoint); 3 months post‐program (follow up)] Primary outcome: Help seeking intentions; ; Help seeking intentions will be measured using the General Help Seeking Questionnaire (GHSQ). This scale was developed in Australia and measures help‐seeking intentions. The scale asks the participant to rate how likely they are to seek help from various sources if they were experiencing a personal‐emotional problem or experiencing suicidal thoughts. The participant rates the likelihood on a 7‐point Likert scale (Extremely Unlikely ‐ Extremely Likely). [At beginning of program (approximately 1 week before program ‐ baseline data); At end of program (at the end of the 10th session ‐ primary endpoint); 3 months post‐program (follow up)] Primary outcome: Knowledge of mental illness and recovery; ; Knowledge of mental illness and recovery will be measured using the Knowledge of Mental Illness and Recovery (K‐MIR) scale. This scale has been validated within a US sample. It measures young people's knowledge of mental illness, stigma and recovery. The scale consists of 35 items and takes approximately 11‐14 minutes to complete. It is designed for young people aged 10‐16 years old with a 4.8 reading level. Subscales include mental illness, stigma and recovery.[At beginning of program (approximately 1 week before program ‐ baseline data); At end of program (at the end of the 10th session ‐ primary endpoint); 3 months post‐program (follow up)] Fluent in English ; ] End of program evaluation: This instrument allows participants to give feedback on the overall YES program. It consists of 10 items aiming to examine the participant's experience of the program, with open‐ended questions and 2 rating items. It also asks whether participants would tell/recommend others for the program and how beneficial aspects of the program were (e.g. coping skills). [10th/final session of the program] Evaluation of the session: Participants will be invited to provide feedback at the end of each session. The evaluation instrument includes 5 open‐ended questions relating to what the participant gained or did not gain from the session, what they learnt, and suggestions for conversation topics for future sessions.[At end of each session of program] Facilitator feedback: This instrument allows facilitators to give feedback on their experience during the YES program. The questionnaire takes approximately 15‐30 minutes to complete and consists a 5‐point Likert rating scale for statements (e.g. “I felt supported throughout my