Interventions to promote mental health

• Mental health is a state of wellbeing in which the individual realises their own abilities to cope with the normal stressors of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to their community.
• Mental health promotion interventions are also relevant to mental illness prevention.
• The scope of mental health promotion is wider, including the target of the intervention that may include quality of life, employment, and relationships.
• Strengthen individuals by increasing emotional resilience through interventions designed to promote self-esteem, life and coping skills, such as communication, negotiating, and relationship skills.
• Strengthen communities by increasing social inclusion and participation, improving neighbourhood environments, developing a range of interventions which support mental health, anti-bullying strategies, health in the workplace, community safety measures and self-help networks.
• Reduce 'structural barriers' to mental health by tackling societal structures through initiatives to reduce discrimination and inequalities and to promote access to education, meaningful employment, housing, services and support for vulnerable individuals.
• Mental health is essential for wellbeing and quality of life.
• Mental health contributes to all aspects go human life; relationships, physical health, employability, and education attainment.
• Mental health is important for reducing or preventing mental illness.
• Mental health is potentially very cost effective as mental illness has been estimated to cost £105.2 billion per year in 2010.
• Flourishing mental health is when the individual is free from psychopathology with high levels of emotion, psychological and emotion well-being.
• Moderate mental health is when the individual is still doing okay, but subjective well-being may be lower or functioning may not be as good.
• Languishing mental health is low levels of well-being and functioning, but the individual does not have a mental illness.
• Mental disorder describes individuals with a mental illness.
• Keyes (2005) found that when compared with flourishing adults, moderately mentally healthy and languishing adults had lower psycho-social impairment, lower physical health, and lower productivity.
• Keyes (2005) original results were cross-sectional, so we cannot determine the causality of relationship. Further, there is no longitudinal evidence to suggest potential causal relationships between good mental health and future outcomes.
• Children and adolescents are vulnerable to mental illness, with over half of all illnesses starting before age 15 and 3/4 before age 25.
• Children and adolescents develop mental illness due to differences in development between the cognitive and emotional aspects of the brain, while they may be able to understand something on a logical level, they may relate to it differently on an emotional level.
• Adolescents is a time of turbulence and insecurity within friendship groups, school environments, independence, and parent/guardian dynamics.
• The impact of mental illness in adolescents can lead to life-long consequences if it interferes with major life experiences like independence, education, and development of peer support networks.
• Keyes (2006) found flourishing mental health was most common ages 12-14. Moderate mental health was most common ages 15-18.
• Keyes (2006) as measures of mental health increased, conduct problems decreased (arrests, alcohol, tobacco) and psychosocial functioning increased (self determination).
• Older individuals experience a variety of things that have a negative effect on mental health; age discrimination, barriers to participation, social isolation, poorer physical health, and poverty.
• Promoting mental health in older individuals can benefit everyone personally, benefit society by maximising the contributions that older people can make, and benefit society by minimising the cost of care related to poor mental health.
• SES is associated with the kinds of opportunities and privileges that are awarded to certain groups but not others. SES is associated with poorer mental health outcomes.
• There is effective interventions to reduce the effects of poverty and inequality on mental health at the individual/family level, but less evidence regarding community-based interventions and policy level interventions.
• Individuals who experience mental illness additionally find themselves facing social exclusion due to stigma and discrimination which results in a loss of confidence, problems with employment, and difficulties being part of a community.
• Interventions focusing not on reducing symptoms, but focusing on topics related to the promotion of mental health can have a real and positive impact on individuals with mental illness.
• 18% of US adults are 'flourishing', suggesting over 80% may benefit from increased mental health. If we shift the population mental health distribution up a little bit, we would see more people in the flourishing category.
• Macro level interventions are supportive environments and public policy, working at a very large scale.
• Meso and micro interventions work with smaller communities, families, or individuals. Include early stage of life interventions, pre-school education, school-based interventions, and unemployment interventions.
• Meilstrup et al (2020) investigates SES, emotional symptoms, self-efficacy and social competence. Low SES groups have higher risk factors for mental illness in terms of environmental stresses they're under. Suggesting protecting adolescents from low SES groups.
• The Perry Preschool project was used to improve disadvantaged children's capacity for future success by promoting young children's intellectual, social, and physical development.
• The Perry Preschool project included building cognitive and social skills through individualised teaching and learning, including active learning where children were supported to initiate own play and actives.
• The Perry Preschool project found that by age 27, children completed more schooling, committed fewer crimes, had higher rates of employment, earned more.
• The Perry Preschool project found by age 40, fewer teenage pregnancies, more likely to graduate, more likely to hold a job with higher earning, committed fewer crimes, were more likely to own a home and car.
• A lot of school approach studies tended to be short-term, didn't use whole-school approaches which involve different levels of school personnel, wider communities, and they are unlikely to be enough in terms of multiple deprivation.
• Workplaces are good for intervention settings, poor mental health in the workplace leads to sickness absence, reduced productivity, and increased staff turnover.
• Interventions in the workplace lead to increase recognition of employers that MH is important, prevent MH problems which are directly work related, conduct awareness training for line managers and MH first aiders, offer better access to help, and offer effective rehabilitation for individuals who need to take time off.
• McElligott et al (2010) examined the effects of holistic programmes and the development of a self-care plan on health-promoting behaviours in hospital nurses. Found the intervention group had higher overall health scores, including spirituality, interpersonal relations, and nutrition scores.