Editorial

With contributions from a wide geographical area, this issue covers a range ofsubjects including mental health literacy, services and support in the community,peer and social networks, and problems faced by students, adolescents and teachers.The first paper by Ntsoaki Florence Tadi, a Lecturer at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein, South Africa, is an innovative study which investigated beliefs about schizophrenia in the diverse black African population in a local township. She was interested in gender stereotyping, and how that interacted with traditional beliefs about causes of psychosis. In contrast with earlier studies, it was found that a more limited education was associated with attributing psychosis in women to medical rather than traditional causes. Overall, traditional (spiritual) causes were predominant, increasingly so as age increased. This study highlights how attributable causes and stigma about mental health may vary internationally.Over the last 25+ years, the term Mental Health Literacy has become more common currency. Zeng Shengnan, Richard Bailey and colleagues in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, carried out a systematic review to find out more about how the term is used. The themes that were identified in their review included: We published a systematic review last year on Positive Mental Health, which has relevance to this study (Cresswell-Smith et al., 2023).Felipe Agudelo Hernández and Laura Plata-Casas, in Bogota, and Jhasny Mosquera, in Medellin, work in community mental health in a region of Columbia with a high proportion of “Afro-descendant” service-users. “The door is always open”, in the title, is a quote from a service-user participating in one of the study’s focus groups, exploring perceptions of the community centre. The centre does not receive any statutory funding; one of the messages that comes through is one of the centre’s resilience. The author’s determined two themes from the focus groups: firstly, the community centre is described as a place of recovery that mobilizes social services. Secondly, the importance of human rights was assumed part of community services, not only to eliminate coercive practices, but to support the increase of autonomy. These themes and issues might well be seen in terms of Citizenship, as featured in our Special Issue www.emerald.com/insight/publication/issn/1746-5729/vol/22/iss/3A collaboration between Wisconsin, USA, and Guangzhou, China, resulted in an evaluation of a system of Peer Support, which promoted social participation. Xiyuan Chen, Fan Yu, Lindsey Sheehan and co-authors trained peer supporters, during COVID-19 restrictions, so support was given by telephone. Results showed that the organization of peer support was feasible, and there was a significant effect on quality of life, and social relationships. However, men were not as receptive to the scheme as women.The following paper looks at the important issue of children and adolescent mental health. The article by Mohamed Lachaab, in Tunisia, using data from the National Survey of Children’s Health determines recent trends in mental health problems in the USA, identifies risk factors responsible for the trends and evaluates intervention policies to reduce the consequences of these problems. The paper found that anxiety and depression have both increased, behavioural issues like ADHD remained stable until 2020 (the start of COVID-19), when they began to rise, there was a link between increased social media use and increased mental health problems; and bullying had a negative impact on the mental health of children and adolescents. Females in the relevant age group were found to be more at risk of mental health problems than males.The next set of papers in this issue focus on mental health issues and psychosocial issues faced by students, adolescents and teachers:Rasha Aziz Attia Salama, with her co-authors in UAE, carried out a study of medical students to ascertain prevalence rates and factors contributing to academic burnout. The UAE study found that being in the clinical years, long-distance commuting challenges and involuntary college selection were predictors of burnout. In the USA and UK, economic problems were factors, reflecting a difference in culture. The authors suggest ways in which students might avoid burnout, and also recommend that colleges offer mental health support, as well academic advisers to help manage workloads. We have published work on this subject in recent years: from Canada (Schramer et al., 2020); from the UK (Hack-Polay and Read, 2020); and on a related subject, from Indonesia (Badri, 2021).Lindsey Gorham and Gudeta Fufaa from West Virginia, USA, use a phenomenological study design to explore the role of psychosocial support for teachers in their decisions to exit the teaching profession. In-depth interviews with eight former teachers from schools in South Carolina revealed that the ultimate impetus for exiting the profession was not directly the result of mental health support or the lack thereof, even though a lack of support for wellbeing influenced job dissatisfaction. Whilst teachers indicated many stressors of the role, solid and supportive leadership, daily breaks and collegial support were indicators of fulfilment and satisfaction in teaching roles. Reflections suggested that many teachers ultimately left teaching due to lack of leadership support, to pursue professional growth opportunities, or they had been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors recommend school and community leaders invite teachers to work alongside them and encourage teacher’s representation, influence and voices in district, state and nationally elected positions for the future development of action and policies.The final paper by Endang Surjaningrum and colleagues from Surabaya, Indonesia, and Junaidah Yusof from Malaysia, investigates the feasibility of community health workers (Posyandu cadres), administering the Whooley questions and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), as screening tools for identifying perinatal and postpartum depression. Posyandu cadres are lay community volunteers and play a significant role in primary healthcare in Surabaya by assisting trained healthcare workers to provide maternal and child healthcare services in a community-based integrated health services called Posyandu. The study found that whilst both the Whooley questions and the EPDS effectively screened for depression, the EPDS was better at differentiating the level of symptoms. The Whooley questions were perceived to be the most useful tool for first-level screening and administration by Posyandu cadres, as it was found that some individuals had difficulties calculating the EPDS scores. The EPDS was perceived to be more suitable as a follow-up tool, administered by trained health care workers, for further evaluation of symptoms.We hope you enjoy this issue and find it useful for your work in public mental health.

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