T130. A SURVEY OF MENTAL HEALTH LITERACY USING THE INTERNET IN JAPAN

BACKGROUND: Insufficient mental health literacy (MHL) of the general public is one of the major factors that prevent early intervention for mental illness. Insufficient MHL may exacerbate the stigma attached to people with mental illness. In Japan, there have been few large-scale surveys to determine the MHL level of the general public. Hence, we conducted a large-scale internet-based survey of 3000 citizens, to clarify the knowledge, attitudes and behaviors of the general public with respect to “prevention of and recovery from mental illness.” METHODS: We conducted a survey of 3000 citizens (aged 18 to 79 years, 1483 males and 1517 females) to determine their MHL level, using a questionnaire posted on the internet. The survey consisted of 22 questions about MHL, grouped into 8 categories. RESULTS: The results of our survey were as follows: (1) Impression of mental illness: Regarding the question on their impression of mental illness, more than 70% of the respondents answered, “I think it is scary.” This answer was especially likely to be given by younger respondents. (2) Knowledge of mental illness: Regarding the question on whether mental illness is related to the living environment and also to suicide, more than 90% of the respondents answered, “I think so.” However, a small proportion of the respondents were aware that mental illness begins in adolescence (65.0%) and that only physical symptoms manifest in some cases of mental illness (40.2%). (3) Awareness of the importance of mental health: Regarding the importance of mental health, 94.1% of the respondents answered, “I think so.”; (4) Attitudes and behaviors toward people with mental illness: Of the respondents, 20% to 30% had interacted with people with mental illness at home, school, workplace or in their neighborhood. Of these, 62.0% thought that they could maintain friendship with them. However, 39.6% of the respondents did not want to live with them, 25.2% did not want to work with them, and 32.0% did not want to live near them; thus, many of the respondents had negative thoughts about establishing close relationships with people with mental illness. The percentage of respondents with such negative thoughts increased with age. (5) Identification by the subjects of the survey of depression, schizophrenia, anxiety disorder and eating disorder using vignettes: The identification rates of the diseases were as follows: depression (27.3%), schizophrenia (33.7%), anxiety disorder (63.5%), and eating disorder (82.2%). The identification rate of schizophrenia was higher in respondents between the ages of 20s to 40s and decreased in older age groups. DISCUSSION: It was found that in Japan, many citizens were aware of the importance of mental health, but that there was still a stigma attached to people with mental illness. In addition, they were found to be still poorly aware of representative mental illnesses, such as depression and schizophrenia. For improving these aspects, the MHL level of the general public needs to be further improved. In Japan, it has been pointed out that education on mental health is insufficient. However, education on mental health as a course on “prevention of and recovery from mental illness” is expected to be started in high schools in 2022. This would be expected to further improve the MHL level of the general public in the near future.