Top

BMC Psychiatry

Published in:

Open Access 01-12-2021 | Research article

Mental health literacy and quality of life in Iran: a cross-sectional study

Authors: Alireza Jafari, Mahbobeh Nejatian, Vahideh Momeniyan, Fatemeh Ramezani Barsalani, Hadi Tehrani

Published in: BMC Psychiatry | Issue 1/2021

Abstract

Background

Mental health is one of the effective factors in the quality of life of people. The aim of the present study was to determine the status of mental health literacy (MHL) and its relationship with the quality of life across the Iranian general population.

Methods

In this cross-sectional study, a multi-stage sampling method was used to survey 1070 participants from the city of Gonabad (Iran). The data collection tools were demographics section, mental health literacy scale (MHLS), and quality of life (SF-12) questionnaires. The data was analyzed by SPSS software version 24 using Independent sample t- test, One- way ANOVA, Pearson correlation, and logistic regression.

Results

The mean and standard deviation of the total scores of MHL and quality of life were 113.54 (10.34) and 35.26 (6.42), respectively. The results revealed that there was a significant positive correlation between MHL and the quality of life (p < 0.001). In this study, there was a significant relationship between variables of sex, level of education, plus received information about mental illness and MHL (p < 0.001). The quality of life was higher in participants whose family members did not have a mental illness, had a high-income level, and received information about mental illness (p < 0.001). Logistic regression indicated that there was a significant relationship between the ability to recognize mental disorders plus knowledge of where to seek information and obtaining information related to mental health (p < 0.001).

Conclusion

Based on the results of this study, there was a correlation between health literacy and quality of life, and more attention should be paid to MHL. Thus, appropriate programs should be designed and implemented to enhance the level of MHL.

Nguyen Thai QC, Nguyen TH. Mental health literacy: knowledge of depression among undergraduate students in Hanoi, Vietnam. Int J Ment Heal Syst. 2018;12(1):19. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13033-018-0195-1.CrossRef

Kessler RC, Aguilar-Gaxiola S, Alonso J, Chatterji S, Lee S, Ustün TB. The WHO world mental health (WMH) surveys. Psychiatrie (Stuttg). 2009;6(1):5–9. https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0038-1671923.CrossRef

Auerbach RP, Mortier P, Bruffaerts R, Alonso J, Benjet C, Cuijpers P, et al. WHO world mental health surveys international college student project: prevalence and distribution of mental disorders. J Abnorm Psychol. 2018;127(7):623–38. https://doi.org/10.1037/abn0000362.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

Mohammadi MR, Ahmadi N, Khaleghi A, Mostafavi SA, Kamali K, Rahgozar M, et al. Prevalence and correlates of psychiatric disorders in a national survey of Iranian children and adolescents. Iran J Psychiatry. 2019;14(1):1–15.PubMedPubMedCentral

Ahmadvand A, Sepehrmanesh Z, Ghoreyshi F, Assarian F, Moosavi GA, Saee R, et al. Prevalence of mental disorders in general population of Kashan City. Iran J Epidemiol. 2010;6(2):16–24.

Goli B, Jaafari-pooyan E, Moradi A, Safi-arian R, Moradi M, Darabi F. Prevalence of anxiety, depression and stress in CABG candidate patients and factors affecting it at Farshchian cardiovascular Hospital in Hamadan. Iran J Health Educ Health Promot. 2021;9(2):212–25. https://doi.org/10.52547/ijhehp.9.2.212.CrossRef

Kelly CM, Jorm AF, Wright A. Improving mental health literacy as a strategy to facilitate early intervention for mental disorders. Med J Aust. 2007;187(S7):S26–30. https://doi.org/10.5694/j.1326-5377.2007.tb01332.x.CrossRefPubMed

Marcus M, Westra H, Group MMR. Mental health literacy in Canadian young adults: results of a national survey. Can J Community Ment Health. 2012;31(1):1–15. https://doi.org/10.7870/cjcmh-2012-0002.CrossRef

Jorm AF. Mental health literacy: public knowledge and beliefs about mental disorders. Br J Psychiatry. 2000;177(5):396–401. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.177.5.396.CrossRefPubMed

10.

Huang D, Yang LH, Pescosolido BA. Understanding the public’s profile of mental health literacy in China: a nationwide study. BMC Psychiatry. 2019;19(1):20. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-018-1980-8.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

11.

Aluh DO, Okonta MJ, Odili VU. Cross-sectional survey of mental health literacy among undergraduate students of the University of Nigeria. BMJ Open. 2019;9(9):e028913. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2019-028913.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

12.

Sayarifard A, Ghadirian L, Mohit A, Eftekhar M, Badpa M, Rajabi F. Assessing mental health literacy: what medical sciences students’ know about depression. Med J Islam Repub Iran. 2015;29:161.PubMedPubMedCentral

13.

Khoshnudi M, Safari A, Vahedian-Shahroodi M, Sadeghnejhad H, Nejati Parvaz N. The relationship between health literacy and quality of life in nurses of hospitals of Kashmar in 2018. J Health Literacy. 2019;4(1):9–17.

14.

Xia J, Wu P, Deng Q, Yan R, Yang R, Lv B, et al. Relationship between health literacy and quality of life among cancer survivors in China: a cross-sectional study. BMJ Open. 2019;9(12). https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2018-028458.

15.

Ahmadzadeh K, Farshidi H, Nikparvar M, Ezati-Rad R, Mahmoodi M. The relationship between health literacy level and quality of life in heart failure patients. J Health Literacy. 2021;6(2):61–8.

16.

Zheng M, Jin H, Shi N, Duan C, Wang D, Yu X, et al. The relationship between health literacy and quality of life: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Health Qual Life Outcomes. 2018;16(1):1–10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12955-018-1031-7.CrossRef

17.

Ran M, Peng L, Liu Q, Pender M, He F, Wang H. The association between quality of life (QOL) and health literacy among junior middle school students: a cross-sectional study. BMC Public Health. 2018;18(1):1183. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-018-6082-5.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

18.

Khorasani EC, Sany SBT, Orooji A, Ferns G, Peyman N. Health literacy in Iranian women: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Iran J Public Health. 2020;49(5):860.

19.

Charoghchian Khorasani E, Tavakoly Sany SB, Tehrani H, Doosti H, Peyman N. Review of organizational health literacy practice at health care centers: outcomes, barriers and facilitators. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020;17(20):7544. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17207544.CrossRefPubMedCentral

20.

Skevington SM, Lotfy M, O'Connell KA. The World Health Organization's WHOQOL-BREF quality of life assessment: psychometric properties and results of the international field trial. A report from the WHOQOL group. Qual Life Res. 2004;13(2):299–310. https://doi.org/10.1023/B:QURE.0000018486.91360.00.CrossRefPubMed

21.

Von Wagner C, Knight K, Steptoe A, Wardle J. Functional health literacy and health-promoting behaviour in a national sample of British adults. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2007;61(12):1086–90. https://doi.org/10.1136/jech.2006.053967.CrossRef

22.

Namazi A, Rafiey H, Mousavi M, Setareh Forouzan A, Ghaed Amini G. A systematic review of studies on the factors affecting the quality of life in the general population of Iran. J Health Literacy. 2021;5(4):17–30.

23.

Abbasimoghadam MA, Dabiran S, Safdari R, Djafarian K. Quality of life and its relation to sociodemographic factors among elderly people living in Tehran. Geriatr Gerontol Int. 2009;9(3):270–5. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1447-0594.2009.00532.x.CrossRefPubMed

24.

Gholami A, Araghi MT, Shamsabadi F, Bayat M, Dabirkhani F, Moradpour F, et al. Application of the world health organization quality of life instrument, short form (WHOQOL-BREF) to patients with cataract. Epidemiol Health. 2016;38. https://doi.org/10.4178/epih.e2016005.

25.

Organization WH: The world health organızatıon qualıty of lıfe ınstruments (the whoqol-100 and the whoqol-bref). Whoqol Measuring Quality of Life, Programme on Mental Health Division of Mental Health and Prevention of Substance Abuse 1997.

26.

Couture ÉM, Chouinard M-C, Fortin M, Hudon C. The relationship between health literacy and quality of life among frequent users of health care services: a cross-sectional study. Health Qual Life Outcomes. 2017;15(1):137. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12955-017-0716-7.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

27.

Hosieni F, Mirzaei T, Ravari A, Akbary A. The relationship between health literacy and quality of life in retirement of Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences. J Health Literacy. 2016;1(2):92–9.

28.

Panahi R, Osmani F, Sahraei M, Ebrahimi S, Shamsizadeh Nehadghashti M, Javanmardi E. Relationship of health literacy and quality of life in adults residing in Karaj, Iran. J Educ Community Health. 2018;4(4):13–9. https://doi.org/10.21859/jech.4.4.13.CrossRef

29.

Lam LT. Mental health literacy and mental health status in adolescents: a population-based survey. Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health. 2014;8(1):26. https://doi.org/10.1186/1753-2000-8-26.CrossRef

30.

O’Connor M, Casey L. The mental health literacy scale (MHLS): a new scale-based measure of mental health literacy. Psychiatry Res. 2015;229(1–2):511–6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2015.05.064.CrossRefPubMed

31.

Noroozi A, Khademolhosseini F, Lari H, Tahmasebi R. The mediator role of mental health literacy in the relationship between demographic variables and health-promoting behaviours. Iran J Psychiatry Behav Sci. 2018;12(2):e12603.

32.

Nunnally JC. Psychometric theory 3E. Tata McGraw-hill education; 1994.

33.

Bland JM, Altman DG. Statistics notes: Cronbach's alpha. Bmj. 1997;314(7080):572. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.314.7080.572.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

34.

Ware JE Jr, Kosinski M, Keller SD. A 12-item short-form health survey: construction of scales and preliminary tests of reliability and validity. Med Care. 1996;34(3):220–33. https://doi.org/10.1097/00005650-199603000-00003.CrossRefPubMed

35.

Montazeri A, Vahdaninia M, Mousavi SJ, Omidvari S. The Iranian version of 12-item short form health survey (SF-12): factor structure, internal consistency and construct validity. BMC Public Health. 2009;9(1):341. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-9-341.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

36.

Heinze G, Dunkler D. Five myths about variable selection. Transpl Int. 2017;30(1):6–10. https://doi.org/10.1111/tri.12895.CrossRefPubMed

37.

Al-Yateem N, Rossiter RC, Robb WF, Slewa-Younan S. Mental health literacy of school nurses in the United Arab Emirates. Int J Ment Heal Syst. 2018;12(1):6–6. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13033-018-0184-4.CrossRef

38.

Li J, Zhang MM, Zhao L, Li WQ, Mu JL, Zhang ZH. Evaluation of attitudes and knowledge toward mental disorders in a sample of the Chinese population using a web-based approach. BMC Psychiatry. 2018;18(1):367. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-018-1949-7.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

39.

Rickwood DJ, Deane FP, Wilson CJ. When and how do young people seek professional help for mental health problems? Med J Aust. 2007;187(S7):S35–9. https://doi.org/10.5694/j.1326-5377.2007.tb01334.x.CrossRefPubMed

40.

Ghadirian L, Sayarifard A. Depression literacy in urban and suburban residents of Tehran, the Capital of Iran; recognition, help seeking and stigmatizing attitude and the predicting factors. Int J Prev Med. 2019;10(1):134. https://doi.org/10.4103/ijpvm.IJPVM_166_18.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

41.

Reavley NJ, Mackinnon AJ, Morgan AJ, Alvarez-Jimenez M, Hetrick SE, Killackey E, et al. Quality of information sources about mental disorders: a comparison of Wikipedia with centrally controlled web and printed sources. Psychol Med. 2012;42(8):1753–62. https://doi.org/10.1017/S003329171100287X.CrossRefPubMed

42.

Dias P, Campos L, Almeida H, Palha F. Mental health literacy in young adults: adaptation and psychometric properties of the mental health literacy questionnaire. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2018;15(7):1318. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15071318.CrossRefPubMedCentral

43.

Martínez-Zambrano F, García-Morales E, García-Franco M, Miguel J, Villellas R, Pascual G, et al. Intervention for reducing stigma: assessing the influence of gender and knowledge. World J Psychiatry. 2013;3(2):18–24. https://doi.org/10.5498/wjp.v3.i2.18.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

44.

Picco L, Seow E, Chua BY, Mahendran R, Verma S, Chong SA, et al. Recognition of mental disorders: findings from a cross-sectional study among medical students in Singapore. BMJ Open. 2017;7(12):e019038. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2017-019038.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

45.

Yu Y, Liu ZW, Hu M, Liu HM, Yang JP, Zhou L, et al. Mental health help-seeking intentions and preferences of rural Chinese adults. PLoS One. 2015;10(11):e0141889. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0141889.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

46.

Rong Y, Glozier N, Luscombe GM, Davenport TA, Huang Y, Hickie IB. Improving knowledge and attitudes towards depression: a controlled trial among Chinese medical students. BMC Psychiatry. 2011;11(1):36. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-244X-11-36.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

47.

Li J, Li J, Thornicroft G, Huang Y. Levels of stigma among community mental health staff in Guangzhou, China. BMC Psychiatry. 2014;14(1):231. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-014-0231-x.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

48.

Ibrahim N, Amit N, Shahar S, Wee L-H, Ismail R, Khairuddin R, et al. Do depression literacy, mental illness beliefs and stigma influence mental health help-seeking attitude? A cross-sectional study of secondary school and university students from B40 households in Malaysia. BMC Public Health. 2019;19(4):544. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-6862-6.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

49.

Hu Z, Qin L, Xu H. Association between diabetes-specific health literacy and health-related quality of life among elderly individuals with pre-diabetes in rural Hunan Province, China: a cross-sectional study. BMJ Open. 2019;9(8):e028648. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2018-028648.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

50.

Zarezadeh Y, Eskandari N, Moradi M, Abdi N. The relationship between health literacy and quality of life of employees in campus of Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences. J Health Literacy. 2020;4(4):38–45.

51.

Barati M, Bijari S, Taherpour M, Afshari M. Investigating the relationship between staff health literacy and quality of life in Famennian County: a cross-sectional study. J Health Literacy. 2019;4(3):46–55.

52.

Zhang S, Xiang W. Income gradient in health-related quality of life — the role of social networking time. Int J Equity Health. 2019;18(1):44. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-019-0942-1.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

53.

Sayah FA, Qiu W, Johnson JA. Health literacy and health-related quality of life in adults with type 2 diabetes: a longitudinal study. Qual Life Res. 2016;25(6):1487–94. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-015-1184-3.CrossRefPubMed

54.

Gulliver A, Griffiths KM, Christensen H. Perceived barriers and facilitators to mental health help-seeking in young people: a systematic review. BMC Psychiatry. 2010;10(1):113. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-244X-10-113.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

55.

Rüsch N, Müller M, Ajdacic-Gross V, Rodgers S, Corrigan PW, Rössler W. Shame, perceived knowledge and satisfaction associated with mental health as predictors of attitude patterns towards help-seeking. Epidemiol Psychiatr Sci. 2014;23(2):177–87. https://doi.org/10.1017/S204579601300036X.CrossRefPubMed

56.

Jorm AF, Christensen H, Griffiths KM. The public's ability to recognize mental disorders and their beliefs about treatment: changes in Australia over 8 years. Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 2006;40(1):36–41. https://doi.org/10.1080/j.1440-1614.2006.01738.x.CrossRefPubMed

57.

Picco L, Abdin E, Pang S, Vaingankar J, Jeyagurunathan A, Chong S, et al. Association between recognition and help-seeking preferences and stigma towards people with mental illness. Epidemiol Psychiatr Sci. 2018;27(1):84–93. https://doi.org/10.1017/S2045796016000998.CrossRefPubMed

58.

Wei Y, McGrath PJ, Hayden J, Kutcher S. Measurement properties of mental health literacy tools measuring help-seeking: a systematic review. J Ment Health. 2017;26(6):543–55. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638237.2016.1276532.CrossRefPubMed

59.

Campos L, Dias P, Palha F, Duarte A, Veiga E. Development and psychometric properties of a new questionnaire for assessing mental health literacy in young people. Universitas Psychol. 2016;15(2):61–72. https://doi.org/10.11144/Javeriana.upsy15-2.dppq.CrossRef

60.

Post RM, Altshuler LL, Kupka R, McElroy SL, Frye MA, Rowe M, et al. Multigenerational transmission of liability to psychiatric illness in offspring of parents with bipolar disorder. Bipolar Disord. 2018;20(5):432–40. https://doi.org/10.1111/bdi.12668.CrossRef

61.

Poreddi V, Birudu R, Thimmaiah R, Math SB. Mental health literacy among caregivers of persons with mental illness: a descriptive survey. J Neurosci Rural Pract. 2015;6(3):355–60. https://doi.org/10.4103/0976-3147.154571.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

62.

White M, Casey L. Helping older adults to help themselves: the role of mental health literacy in family members. Aging Ment Health. 2017;21(11):1129–37. https://doi.org/10.1080/13607863.2016.1206513.CrossRefPubMed

Title: Mental health literacy and quality of life in Iran: a cross-sectional study
Authors: Alireza Jafari
Mahbobeh Nejatian
Vahideh Momeniyan
Fatemeh Ramezani Barsalani
Hadi Tehrani
Publication date: 01-12-2021
Publisher: BioMed Central
Published in: BMC Psychiatry / Issue 1/2021
Electronic ISSN: 1471-244X
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-021-03507-5

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

Springer Medicine

Mental health literacy and quality of life in Iran: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

Springer Medicine

Abstract

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Please log in to get access to this content

Other articles of this Issue 1/2021

Participation in a free medication program among non-registered permanent residents with severe mental disorders in Bao’an district, Shenzhen, China and its influencing factors

Depression, post-traumatic stress, anxiety, and fear of COVID-19 in the general population and health-care workers: prevalence, relationship, and explicative model in Peru

Aripiprazole in the real-world treatment for irritability associated with autism spectrum disorder in children and adolescents in Japan: 52-week post-marketing surveillance

Increased symptoms of post-traumatic stress in school students soon after the start of the COVID-19 outbreak in China

Resilience, coping, and distress among healthcare service personnel during the COVID-19 pandemic

Is there a social gradient in how youth with mental disorder perform academically? Findings from a Swedish longitudinal register-based study