Mental health of Indonesian university students: U.K. comparison and relationship between mental health shame and self-compassion.

While the Indonesian higher education has been growing rapidly, poor student mental health including a high level of mental health shame is a cause for concern in Indonesia. This study aimed to evaluate their mental health, shame, and self-compassion. One hundred fifty six participants completed self-report measures regarding mental health problems (depression, anxiety, and stress), mental health shame (negative attitudes, and external, internal, and reflected shame), and self-compassion. Data were first compared with 145 U.K. students, then correlation and regression analyses were performed. Indonesian students showed higher levels of mental health problems, family-related mental health shame, and self-compassion than U.K. students. Each type of mental health problem and mental health shame were positively associated with each other. Self-compassion was negatively associated with mental health problems, but not with mental health shame. Self-compassion was consistently the strongest predictor of mental health problems. Among the mental health shame types, only family external shame predicted the level of depression. Self-compassion training and mental health education for their family are recommended to protect the mental health of university students in Indonesia. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved

Construction and factorial validation of a short version of the Attitudes Towards Mental Health Problems Scale (SATMHPS)

Negative attitudes and shame towards mental health problems are detrimental to mental health. An established measure for mental health attitudes and shame is the Attitudes Towards Mental Health Problems Scale (ATMHPS), comprising 35 items. This comprehensive instrument evaluates Community/Family Attitudes, Community/Family External Shame, Internal Shame, and Family/Self Reflected Shame. One weakness of the ATMHPS is its length. The present study constructed and validated a shorter version of the ATMHPS (SATMHPS), comprising 14 items. Samples of UK university students (274 business and 301 healthcare students) were recruited, and analyses were performed to construct and validate the factorial structure. The SATMHPS demonstrated good to excellent internal consistency, and very strong correlations with the original ATMHPS in both samples. Confirmatory factor analyses on the SATMHPS replicated the seven-factor model identified in the original ATMHPS. The SATMHPS can be a reliable, valid and user-friendly instrument to measure attitudes and shame towards mental health problems