Philippine E-Journals

The Level of Mental Health Literacy of Filipino Adults in Metro Manila at the Time of COVID-19 Pandemic

Antonette Rey | Ronald Goño | Ma. Jessa Misalang | Jelena Espiritu | Alyza Jane Bangayan | Gary Dy

Discipline: Education

 

Abstract:

The outbreak of COVID-19 has caused the increase of reported mental health problems in the Philippines while the country struggles with mitigating the detrimental impacts of the corona virus disease 2019 pandemic. Filipino adults became one of the most vulnerable to experience the pandemic’s negative psychological impact. Hence, concerns suddenly become a subject of discussion among the public in acknowledging the importance of mental health literacy. The researchers conducted this study to determine the level of mental health literacy (MHL) of Filipino adults amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The instrument by O’Connor and Casey: Mental Health Literacy Scale (MHLS) was used to survey 130 respondents residing in Metro Manila. The results show that the respondents got a moderate MHL level (2.74). Among the six mental health literacy components, knowledge of self-help intervention (3.15), attitudes of recognition and help-seeking behavior (3.12), mental illness recognition (3.11), and knowledge and beliefs about the support available (2.96) were found at a moderate level while knowledge about risk factors and causes (2.24) and knowledge of mental health influences (2.45) were in marginal level. Socioeconomic status was a significant factor in the knowledge of the self-hep intervention (p=0.044, ≤0.05), knowledge, and beliefs about the support available (p=0.008, ≤0.05), attitudes of recognition and help-seeking behavior (p=0.007, ≤0.05), and knowledge about risk factors and causes (p=0.006, ≤0.05). The highest educational attainment was significant to mental illness recognition (p=0.015, ≤0.05), knowledge and beliefs about the support available (p=0.015, ≤0.05), and knowledge of mental health influences (p=0.009, ≤0.05).