Despite frequent media coverage, public understanding of health and mental health issues is still lacking, according to recent study in the Journal of Mental Health. Overall, they concluded that people are “equally and relatively poorly informed” about relatively common mental and physical health conditions.

Mental health issues are a significant concern among adolescents and improving understanding among teens could help at this critical age. About half of all mental illness begins by age 14. In 2017, about a third of high school students said they felt sad or hopeless for more than two weeks and more than 17% seriously considered suicide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A new study finds that education efforts for teens that specifically focus on mental health and well-being, rather than mental illness, can help. Mental health education has traditionally focused on knowledge and beliefs about mental illness or disorders rather than on mental health. Mental health and well-being are more than just the absence of mental illness, the terms typically mean happiness, contentment, subjective well-being, self-realization, and positive functioning.

Researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, Norway, looked at the relationship between understanding more about mental health and wellness (positive mental health literacy) and mental well-being among adolescents. They found that positive mental health literacy was significantly and positively associated with mental well-being and conclude that an educational focus on good mental health can be beneficial for adolescents’ mental well-being.

The specific focus of the study was the role school nurses could play in providing education to high school students. The study authors suggest schools should include knowledge of how to obtain and maintain good mental health as a component of school health services’ education for adolescents. Information could be shared in open seminars, classroom seminars and smaller group discussions. Topics addressed could include such things as stress management, relaxation techniques, normal emotional variations, sleep hygiene, body image, self-esteem, autonomy, making decisions and recognizing personal limits.

The authors acknowledge education is just part, though an important part, of addressing the problem: “Although knowledge from education does not necessarily lead to mental health promoting behavior, knowledge is a necessary foundation for making purposeful health-promoting decisions.”