The effect of a year 9 and 10 high school program, Headstrong, on adolescent depression and mental health literacy.

A randomised controlled trial to investigate the effects that a high school mental health literacy program, HeadStrong, has on students knowledge, attitudes, intentions, and symptoms, with regard to mental health, well being, and help-seeking.

Status

Completed

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Interventional

Source

ANZCTR

Registry ID

ACTRN12613000823774

Enrollment

1500

Registered

2013-07-25

Start date

2013-02-04

Completion date

2013-12-16

Last updated

2020-01-13

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

None listed

Brief summary

The HeadStrong program is a mood disorders prevention program delivered to Years 9 and 10 secondary school students in NSW. The program is delivered by teachers within Personal Development, Health, and Physical Education (PDHPE) classes. Schools will be randomly allocated to the intervention or control condition with measures being administered at baseline, immediately post program completion and 6 months follow up. The goal is to determine whether the HeadStrong program causes lasting improvements in students’ knowledge, attitudes, intentions, and symptoms, with regard to mental health, well being, and help-seeking.

Interventions

The HeadStrong program comprises of a booklet, a slideshow and various appendices freely downloadable from the HeadStrong website. The program consists of 5 modules designed to teach students about the nature of depression and bipolar disorder, and how to (a) recognise the symptoms of these illnesses, (b) help friends and relatives who exhibit symptoms, (c) help themselves if they should experience symptoms, (d) increase their levels of resilience, (e) raise community awareness about mood disorders, and (f) break down stigma surrounding mood disorders. The program will be delivered in class alongside classroom activities over a period of 5-8 weeks within Term 1 (approximately 10 hours in total). Note that there is no online component to the delivery of the program, the materials are simply available freely and downloadable online.

Study design

Allocation

Randomised controlled trial

Primary purpose

Prevention

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

All

Age

13 Years to 16 Years

Healthy volunteers

Yes

Inclusion criteria

Students in years 9 and 10 who are attending the schools receiving the intervention programs. Students and their parents must have consented to participate in the program.

Exclusion criteria

None identified.

Outcome results