A Brief Mental Health Literacy Intervention for Saudi Health Profession Students: Warning Signs of Mental Illness

Background: Previous research has been dedicated to educating the public about mental health with little focus on health profession students. Although available studies in the Middle East have yielded limited levels of mental health literacy among the public and particularly health profession students, mental health literacy is not adequately studied among such university students in the region. This study aimed to implement a brief digital asynchronous online educational session about the warning signs of mental illness as a form of intervention. Method Research question: What is the effect of an online digital educational session about warning signs of mental illness on health profession students’ mental health literacy levels? A quasi-experimental, one-group pretest-posttest study design was used. A convenience sample of 493 undergraduate health profession students in Saudi Arabia completed a pre-intervention survey, a digital online educational session, and a post-intervention survey. Results Upon conducting the digital online educational session, all items related to knowledge about warning signs of mental illness and the majority of the items related to attitudes toward mental illness and treatment significantly increased. Conclusions The study’s mental health literacy survey which highlighted the warning signs of mental illness was valid and reliable. The brief digital online educational session enhanced health profession students’ mental health literacy. Mental health literacy amongst health profession students can be augmented through mentorship during academic training or new appointments in practice.