An interventional study of Nurse-Led School-Based Structured Mental Health Education in High School Students, sponsored by Neslihan Lok. Completed at 1 site in Turkey (Türkiye). Open to participants aged 14 Years to 15 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-10-16.
Sponsored by Neslihan Lok · Not applicable, Interventional, and Prevention
This study was aimed to evaluate the effects of a nurse-led, school-based structured mental health education program on adolescents' beliefs toward mental illness, social distance, and empathic tendency. The research hypotheses of this study are as follows:
H1. Adolescents receiving nurse-led, school-based structured mental health education would demonstrate a greater reduction in negative beliefs toward mental illness than adolescents in the control group.
H2. Adolescents receiving nurse-led, school-based structured mental health education would demonstrate a greater reduction in social distance toward individuals with mental illness than adolescents in the control group.
H3. Adolescents receiving nurse-led, school-based structured mental health education would demonstrate a greater increase in empathic tendency than adolescents in the control group. This study hypothesized that participation in Nurse-Led School-Based Structured Mental Health Education would reduce adolescents' misconceptions and negative beliefs about mental illness, increase their willingness to establish social relationships with individuals with mental illness, and strengthen their tendency to understand others' feelings and thoughts, consider different perspectives, and demonstrate sensitivity toward others' experiences. The study compared the intervention group, which received Nurse-Led School-Based Structured Mental Health Education, with the control group, which continued the routine school program, in terms of these variables.
Participants in the intervention group attended nurse-led, school-based structured mental health education at an Anatolian high school over a six-week period. The program was delivered once a week, on either Monday, Wednesday, or Friday, according to the students' class schedules. Each session lasted approximately 45 minutes.
The study was conducted ninth-grade students at an Anatolian High School, according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. A total of 72 students were included in the study. These students were randomly assigned to two groups: intervention and control groups. Pre-test data were collected in a quiet classroom setting at the school, where silence was maintained, by researches on October, 2023 from both the intervention and control groups using the "Personal Information Form", "Beliefs Toward Mental Illness Scale, Social Distance Scale, and KA-SI Empathic Tendency Scale-Adolescent Form on a self-report basis. Nurse-Led School-Based Structured Mental Health Education was administered to the intervention group, which was divided into six small groups of six students, between October-November 2023 for 6 weeks, once a week, on either Monday, Wednesday, or Friday, according to the students' class schedules, in sessions lasting approximately 45 minutes each. At the end of the Nurse-Led School-Based Structured Mental Health Education, both the intervention and control groups were administered the ""Beliefs Toward Mental Illness Scale, Social Distance Scale, and KA-SI Empathic Tendency Scale-Adolescent Form" as a post-test on November, 2023. The control group received no intervention during the 6-week program, which continued the routine school program.
2,148 studies on the registry are indexed under Mental Disorders; 425 are open to participants now.
This study's enrollment of 72 is below the median of 96 across 1,607 interventional studies indexed under Mental Disorders.
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Exclusion Criteria:
The intervention group was a group of 36 students who followed the 6-week the Nurse-Led School-Based Structured Mental Health Education.
Behavioral: Nurse-Led School-Based Structured Mental Health Education
The control group was a group of 36 students who did not receive any intervention, which continued the routine school program, for 6 weeks.
The program was structured according to improve adolescents' knowledge and awareness of mental health and mental illness, reduce misconceptions about mental illness, support the development of more positive social approaches toward individuals with mental illness, and strengthen empathic tendencies. The program consisted of six structured sessions delivered over six weeks, with one session conducted each week. Each session lasted approximately 45 minutes. The program consisted of six structured sessions: Session 1. Understanding mental health and mental illness Session 2. Accurate and inaccurate beliefs about mental illness Session 3. Causes, treatment, and recovery in mental illness Session 4. Empathy and perspective taking Session 5. Supportive communication and social approach Session 6. Reinforcement and evaluation
Beliefs Toward Mental Illness total mean score
Beliefs Toward Mental Illness was assessed using the Beliefs Toward Mental Illness Scale, consists of 21 items, each scored from 0 to 5, yielding a total score ranging from 0 to 105, with higher scores indicate more negative beliefs toward mental illness.
Time frame: From enrollment to the end of the Nurse-Led School-Based Structured Mental Health Education at 6 weeks.
Social distance toward individuals with mental illness total mean score
Social distance toward individuals with mental illness was assessed using the Social Distance Scale, consists of 14 items rated on a 7-point scale, yielding a total score ranging from 14 to 98, with higher scores indicate greater social distance toward individuals with mental illness.
Time frame: From enrollment to the end of the Nurse-Led School-Based Structured Mental Health Education at 6 weeks.
Empathic tendency total mean score
Empathic tendency was assessed using the KA-SI Empathic Tendency Scale-Adolescent Form, consists of 17 items rated on a 4-point Likert scale. There are no reverse-scored items in the adolescent form. Total scores range from 17 to 68, with higher scores indicating greater empathic tendency.
Time frame: From enrollment to the end of the Nurse-Led School-Based Structured Mental Health Education at 6 weeks.
Plan to share: No
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Neslihan Lok