Information access and mental health knowledge of health sciences students of Universitas Hasanuddin in Indonesia: A cross-sectional study

The prevalence of mental health disorders continues to increase yearly worldwide. Low mental health literacy has been identified as the leading cause of the increasing prevalence of mental disorders. In order to improve community awareness of mental health-related issues, including students, exploring health science students at the university level is also essential. This study aimed to investigate mental health literacy among health science students.

This study is quantitative with a cross-sectional study design. The study was conducted from May to October 2022 at a state university. The population is health sciences students of Universitas Hasanuddin in Indonesia. The participants were selected by a simple random sampling method. The data collected through the Mental Health Literacy Scale for Healthcare Students (MHLS-HS). We analyzed data by the descriptive statistics, ANOVA, Chi-square, Pearson Correlation tests, and SPSS software.  

The results showed that predominantly participants were female (84.4%), Sulawesi ethnic (87.2%), living in urban areas (60.7%), frequently accessing mental health information (55.9%), and attending seminars and workshops (76.3%), have a moderate level on mental health literacy (51.2%). Information access has shown a statistically significant impact on mental health knowledge among health science students (P= 0.009).

Mental health knowledge among health science students was correlated to information access, in which, more frequently, students accessing mental health information through online news/media could affect their knowledge. In order to strengthen the evidence, further study with large sample size and variables is needed.