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. 2023 May;59(4):784-796.
doi: 10.1007/s10597-022-01059-w. Epub 2023 Jan 16.

Assessing the Feasibility of a Peer Education Project to Improve Mental Health Literacy in Adolescents in the UK

Abigail Emma Russell  1 , Esther Curtin  2 , Emily Widnall  3 , Steven Dodd  4 , Mark Limmer  4 , Ruth Simmonds  5 , Judi Kidger  3
Affiliations

Assessing the Feasibility of a Peer Education Project to Improve Mental Health Literacy in Adolescents in the UK

Abigail Emma Russell et al. Community Ment Health J. 2023 May.

Abstract

Many mental health problems begin in adolescence and occur on a spectrum of severity: early recognition and intervention is important. This study is a quantitative feasibility study of the Mental Health Foundation's Peer Education Project (PEP). Attrition, psychometric properties of questionnaires, indications of improvement on a range of outcomes, and sample size required for a powered trial of effectiveness were assessed. 203 students completed the survey both pre and post-intervention. It was found that existing previously-validated measures had good psychometric properties, with two new questionnaires demonstrating reasonable reliability (self-help confidence alpha = 0.78, mental health knowledge alpha = 0.59). There were indications of improvement in help-seeking intentions, the number of sources likely to seek help from, and mental health knowledge from pre- to post-intervention. A future trial of PEP with a sample of approximately 36 schools, researcher-led data collections, and help-seeking intentions or sources as a primary outcome appears to be feasible.

Keywords: Feasibility; Mental health literacy; Peer education; School-based intervention.

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Conflict of interest statement

One author (RS) works for the Mental Health Foundation who developed and deliver the intervention. The authors declare they have no competing interests.

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