Abstract
Mental
health literacy is an essential part of preventing mental illnesses. However,
the quality of mental health literacy measures remain unknown, as does its
universality across various settings and populations. Few studies focus on
measures aimed at assessing mental health literacy of children and adolescents
that covers knowledge about mental health and mental disorders, strategies to
decrease stigma, and enhancement of help-seeking efficacy. The present study aimed
to conduct a systematic search to find available measures of mental health
literacy of children and adolescents under the age of 19 years. The following
databases were searched: Web of Science, PubMed, PsycINFO, MEDLINE, ERIC and
CINAHL Plus. COSMIN checklist was applied to assess the methodological quality
of each study. Twenty-one mental health literacy measures were identified in 18
studies. The quality of the studies ranged between very good and inadequate.
Sixteen measures were universal, implying that they were not diagnostic
specific. Two measures scored a full score of four on mental health literacy
comprehensiveness. This review revealed that the overall quality of the
measurement properties was mixed, that there are limited measures available to
evaluate non-diagnostic-specific mental health literacy in universal
populations of children and adolescents, and that measures fail to cover key
mental health literacy components of knowledge of mental health, illness,
stigma, and help-seeking. New measures should be developed to cover this gap in
the field of child and adolescent mental health.