Canadians appear to have good knowledge of prevention strategies and many of the strategies they recommended such as social support, physical exercise and stress reduction, are indeed protective factors. The focus group participants who attributed mental illness to genetic causes expressed more pessimism about prevention; this finding calls for careful construction of key messages for educational initiatives.
Canadians show a good intuitive understanding of the mind/body connection. A significant body of research investigating how the relationship works has emerged in recent years, and people could benefit from this information, to protect their mental and physical health. Raising public awareness about the connections between stress, depression and chronic disease represents a good opportunity for intersectoral collaboration, which is itself integral to effective health promotion.
Assessing the degree of mental health literacy in a population depends on how mental health literacy is defined. The existing definition of mental health literacy, knowledge and beliefs about mental disorders that aid their recognition, management or prevention, does not specify which knowledge and beliefs represent good mental health literacy. There is a tendency among professionals to assume the mental health literacy of the public will increase as it comes into alignment with professional thinking and an expectation that this will result in stigma reduction, improvements in help seeking and better treatment outcomes. However, there are limitations and risks to this approach.
Mental health literacy could be more broadly defined as the range of cognitive and social skills and capacities that support mental heath promotion. This includes the capacity to act on social as well as individual determinants of mental health and mental illness. An expanded definition could serve as the basis for a comprehensive, population health model for enhancing mental health literacy, at all levels.
The next stage of this project will be to share project findings with prospective partners across sectors, including existing health prevention/promotion coalitions and alliances, the media, youth, seniors, health care providers, the private sector, other NGOs. Consultations will focus what the findings mean to prospective partners, the potential benefits of an integrated approach, identification of barriers, solutions and proposed contributions to a integrated plan to enhance mental health literacy in Canada.