Mind Wise: Promoting mental health literacy at Victoria University
Aim of the project
The aim of the project is to deliver and evaluate the effectiveness of a mental health literacy campaign for students and staff of Victoria University (VU).
Potential benefits of the project
Potential benefits for VU staff and students include:
- Increased use of appropriate professional help for mental health problems, including depression, anxiety and alcohol misuse
- Greater use of evidence-based self-care
- Increased first aid actions by staff and other students.
Evaluation of outcomes
The impact of the campaign on the following outcomes will be evaluated: staff and student’s knowledge of key messages, stigmatizing attitudes, help-seeking, self-care, first aid given and received, depression and related symptoms, alcohol misuse, and everyday functioning (including absenteeism and course completion for students).
The intervention
The campaign will include a number of elements, some of which involve giving basic information to a whole university campus (basic messages), while others give much more detailed training to a smaller group which requires greater knowledge, e.g. staff who have a particular role in student welfare (detailed messages). The basic messages will be conveyed using a range of media, including emails, postcards, posters, and special events. The detailed messages will be provided by the Mental Health First Aid program. The intervention will be implemented in certain campuses (both Higher Education and TAFE) and others will serve as control sites.