Abstract:
Objective To understand the current situation of primary and secondary school students' knowledge of the symptoms of common psychological problems in Hunan Province and analyze the related factors, so as to provide a scientific basis for the development of mental health education strategies.
Methods A total of 15, 400 primary and secondary school students from 308 classes in 154 schools in 14 cities and states in Hunan Province were sampled by multi- stage stratified cluster random sampling. The self- designed questionnaire, Symptom Check List-90 (SCL-90), Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale-7 (GAD-7), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) were used to investigate the primary and secondary school students' knowledge of the symptoms of common psychological problems.
Results Overall, the knowledge of the symptoms of common psychological problems among primary and secondary school students in Hunan Province was 34.7% (95% CI: 33.9%-35.5%). Students had the highest knowledge of emotional symptoms of psychological problems, which was 51.4% (95% CI: 50.5%-52.3%), followed by physiological symptoms, with a knowledge of 29.7% (95% CI: 28.9%- 30.5%), and the lowest knowledge of behavioral manifestations was 27.5% (95% CI: 26.7%-28.3%). The results of multi-factorial logistic regression showed that female students, urban students, high school students, history of illnesses with psychological problems, only child, father's education level of college or above, self-rated academic performance in the top 25% of the class, school psychology teachers and other factors could improve students' knowledge of the symptoms of common psychological problems.
Conclusion The knowledge of the symptoms of common psychological problems among primary and secondary school students in Hunan Province needs to be improved. The education and related departments should enhance the mental health education of primary and secondary school students to increase their knowledge of the symptoms of common psychological problems.