The need for assessing mental health literacy among teachers: an overview

Background: The magnitude of mental disorders is a growing public health concern. According to World Health Organization (WHO) reports, one out of five children suffer from a disabling mental illness. Majority of mental illnesses start during the adolescent period. Management of mental illnesses start from recognizing the needy adolescent and providing appropriate therapy and support. Most of the children and adolescents are students who spend almost half of their active time in schools under observation of their teachers. Teachers interact with students daily and can spot the changes in their behavior before they develop full-blown symptoms. Hence, teachers can be a major resource of importance in providing basic mental health services. The teacher’s ability to identify the early signs of mental illness in adolescent students can be considered as the most critical and neglected area. Majority of the studies are conducted in the community or adolescent students and much less attention has been paid to the mental health literacy of educators, who are important role models and youth influencers in addressing mental health literacy. The scenario in India in this regard is highly disappointing with few studies done among teachers

Safeguarding adolescent mental health in India (SAMA): study protocol for codesign and feasibility study of a school systems intervention targeting adolescent anxiety and depression in India.

INTRODUCTION: Symptoms of anxiety and depression in Indian adolescents are common. Schools can be opportune sites for delivery of mental health interventions. India, however, is without a evidence-based and integrated whole-school mental health approach. This article describes the study design for the safeguarding adolescent mental health in India (SAMA) project. The aim of SAMA is to codesign and feasibility test a suite of multicomponent interventions for mental health across the intersecting systems of adolescents, schools, families and their local communities in India. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Our project will codesign and feasibility test four interventions to run in parallel in eight schools (three assigned to waitlist) in Bengaluru and Kolar in Karnataka, India. The primary aim is to reduce the prevalence of adolescent anxiety and depression. Codesign of interventions will build on existing evidence and resources. Interventions for adolescents at school will be universal, incorporating curriculum and social components. Interventions for parents and teachers will target mental health literacy, and also for teachers, training in positive behaviour practices. Intervention in the school community will target school climate to improve student mental health literacy and care. Intervention for the wider community will be via adolescent-led films and social media. We will generate intervention cost estimates, test outcome measures and identify pathways to increase policy action on the evidence. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical approval has been granted by the National Institute of Mental Health Neurosciences Research Ethics Committee (NIMHANS/26th IEC (Behv Sc Div/2020/2021)) and the University of Leeds School of Psychology Research Ethics Committee (PSYC-221). Certain data will be available on a data sharing site. Findings will be disseminated via peer-reviewed journals and conferences

Current and Future Disease Burden From Ambient Ozone Exposure in India

Long‐term ambient ozone (O₃) exposure is a risk factor for human health. We estimate the source‐specific disease burden associated with long‐term O₃ exposure in India at high spatial resolution using updated risk functions from the American Cancer Society Cancer Prevention Study II. We estimate 374,000 (95UI: 140,000–554,000) annual premature mortalities using the updated risk function in India in 2015, 200% larger than estimates using the earlier American Cancer Society Cancer Prevention Study II risk function. We find that land transport emissions dominate the source contribution to this disease burden (35%), followed by emissions from power generation (23%). With no change in emissions by 2050, we estimate 1,126,000 (95UI: 421,000–1,667,000) annual premature mortalities, an increase of 200% relative to 2015 due to population aging and growth increasing the number of people susceptible to air pollution. We find that the International Energy Agency New Policy Scenario provides small changes (+1%) to this increasing disease burden from the demographic transition. Under the International Energy Agency Clean Air Scenario we estimate 791,000 (95UI: 202,000–1,336,000) annual premature mortalities in 2050, avoiding 335,000 annual premature mortalities (45% of the increase) compared to the scenario of no emission change. Our study highlights that critical public health benefits are possible with stringent emission reductions, despite population growth and aging increasing the attributable disease burden from O₃ exposure even under such strong emission reductions. The disease burden attributable to ambient fine particulate matter exposure dominates that from ambient O₃ exposure in the present day, while in the future, they may be similar in magnitude

Expenditure on health care, tobacco, and alcohol: Evidence from household surveys in rural Puducherry

Background: Healthcare expenditures exacerbate poverty, with about 39 million people falling into poverty every year because of such expenditures. Tobacco and alcohol consumption in addition to harmful health impact have economic consequences at household level. Aim: To evaluate healthcare, alcohol, and tobacco expenditures among households in rural Puducherry and their impact on household expenditure patterns. Materials and Methods: A community-based cross-sectional analytical study was conducted in selected villages within 5 km of a medical college hospital in Puducherry from September 2016 to June 2017. Sociodemographic details and various household expenditures were obtained from 817 households with 3459 individuals. Data were analyzed using STATA (v14). Results: Higher mean percentage of health expenditure was found among households with low socioeconomic status [17.7 (95% confidence interval (CI): 14–21.3)] and no health insurance schemes [13.4 (95% CI: 11.1–15.7)]. Households with low socioeconomic status [13.1 (95% CI: 7.5–18.7)] had higher tobacco–alcohol expenditure. Increased health expenditure among households was positively correlated with loan (rs = 0.48). Increased alcohol–tobacco expenditure among households was negatively correlated with food (rs= −0.52) and education (rs= −0.70) expenditure. Conclusion: Healthcare and alcohol–tobacco expenditure individually contributed to one-tenth of the household budget. Spending on healthcare, alcohol, and tobacco created significant negative influence on investment in human capital development

Safeguarding adolescent mental health in India (SAMA): study protocol for codesign and feasibility study of a school systems intervention targeting adolescent anxiety and depression in India.

INTRODUCTION: Symptoms of anxiety and depression in Indian adolescents are common. Schools can be opportune sites for delivery of mental health interventions. India, however, is without a evidence-based and integrated whole-school mental health approach. This article describes the study design for the safeguarding adolescent mental health in India (SAMA) project. The aim of SAMA is to codesign and feasibility test a suite of multicomponent interventions for mental health across the intersecting systems of adolescents, schools, families and their local communities in India. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Our project will codesign and feasibility test four interventions to run in parallel in eight schools (three assigned to waitlist) in Bengaluru and Kolar in Karnataka, India. The primary aim is to reduce the prevalence of adolescent anxiety and depression. Codesign of interventions will build on existing evidence and resources. Interventions for adolescents at school will be universal, incorporating curriculum and social components. Interventions for parents and teachers will target mental health literacy, and also for teachers, training in positive behaviour practices. Intervention in the school community will target school climate to improve student mental health literacy and care. Intervention for the wider community will be via adolescent-led films and social media. We will generate intervention cost estimates, test outcome measures and identify pathways to increase policy action on the evidence. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical approval has been granted by the National Institute of Mental Health Neurosciences Research Ethics Committee (NIMHANS/26th IEC (Behv Sc Div/2020/2021)) and the University of Leeds School of Psychology Research Ethics Committee (PSYC-221). Certain data will be available on a data sharing site. Findings will be disseminated via peer-reviewed journals and conferences