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International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences

Open Access Journal

ISSN: 2222-6990

Mental Health Literacy among Malaysian Youth: Exploring Multidisciplinary Perspectives

Siti Raba’ah Hamzah, Intan Nur Suhana Othman, Siti Nur Syuhada Musa, Firdaus Mukhtar, Abdah Akim, Mohammad Rezal Hamzah

http://dx.doi.org/10.6007/IJARBSS/v12-i7/14257

Open access

The study aimed to explore the opinions of multi-field Malaysian experts on mental
health literacy towards youth. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven Malaysian experts from psychiatry, clinical psychology, mental health education, and social work. A mixed deductive-inductive thematic analysis was used in the analysis of the qualitative data. The comprehensive view of mental health literacy that emerged from the interviews included i) ability to recognise specific disorders ii) knowledge of how to seek mental health information iii) knowledge of self-treatment and professional help iv) attitude that promotes recognition, v) stigma, and vi) appropriate help-seeking behaviour. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first qualitative study of experts' views of mental health literacy in the context of Malaysian culture. The experts' responses to the interviews generated a comprehensive view of mental health literacy, including several elements that may be salient in Malaysian culture. The results have implications for researchers and practitioners.

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In-Text Citation: (Hamzah et al., 2022)
To Cite this Article: Hamzah, S. R., Othman, I. N. S., Musa, S. N. S., Mukhtar, F., Akim, A., & Hamzah, M. R. (2022). Mental Health Literacy among Malaysian Youth: Exploring Multidisciplinary Perspectives. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences. 12(7), 358 – 369.