Teachers Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) towards Children Mental Health Issues

Abstract

Appreciation has developed for the role of schools in expanding psychological maturity of children. Therefore, over the past few years, School Based Mental Health (SBMH) services and facilitation have attracted the attention of families, school administrations, policy makers and governments – majorly in the developed world. The effectiveness, time efficiency and economy of SBMH programs have been validated by various researchers and it has also been established that the teacher is the primary component who plays a very significant role in the efficacy of SBMH. This efficacy is in turn dictated by a number of factors which include: Teacher’s understanding of children mental health; teacher’s attitudes towards mental health and relevant programs; teacher’s conviction when involved in the program; and teacher’s practice of that knowledge in daily school settings. The current research sought to quantify these factors in teachers in Pakistani schools as to date there is no literature available which specifically studied teacher’s knowledge, attitudes and practice towards mental health issues of children. Two hundred primary school teachers (N=200) from seventeen government schools; under the order of Federal Directorate of Education Islamabad (FDEI), participated in the current survey study. Self designed survey tool was used to assess teacher’s preparedness for dealing with children mental health issues. Findings revealed that, 67 % teachers never received trainings and lack formal education with respect to children mental health. This lack of training often hinders teachers in providing timely facilitation to children and parents particularly at the time of screening, assessment and referral making. Results highlighted that, 74 % teachers are of the opinion that mental health support is important for children well being but the lack of resources (services, professionals, lack of knowledge) acts as a barrier and makes it challenging to respond to child needs. Despite, the lack of training and formal mental health education, teachers showed positive attitude towards children with mental health issues and their personal willingness and openness to be part of mental health TEACHERS KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE & PRACTICES (KAP) TOWARDS CHILDREN MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES viii trainings programs. This constructive view of teachers was also seen in their subjective responses on the vignettes- particularly designed to assess teachers daily classroom practice with regard to children mental health needs. Survey’s overall findings fostered that there is a strong need for the; revision of teachers training curriculum; introduction of primary and advance level mental health training programs for teachers; availability and access to school based and community services; research based resource material for teachers and caretakers; strengthening of inter-disciplinary relationship; and revision of existing and introducing new policies related to children mental health. These findings can be used in future to prepare our teachers to meet the challenges of children mental health needs and also to ascertain the efficacy and pre-requisites for deployment of SBMH programs in the country.