Research on the Effect of Evidence-Based Intervention on Improving Students’ Mental Health Literacy Led by Ordinary Teachers: A Meta-Analysis

Background: the purpose of this study was to systematically review the effects of intervention experiments led by ordinary teachers to improve students’ mental health literacy and to provide evidence-based research and new ideas for improving students’ mental health literacy. Methods: A systematic search using 5 English (Web of Science, PubMed, ProQuest, EBSCO, Springer Link) and 3 Chinese (CNKI, WanFang, and VIP) databases was initiated to identify controlled trials assessing the immediate effect and delay effect of the intervention experiment led by ordinary teachers on improving students’ mental health knowledge, anti-stigma, willingness, or behavior to seek-help. Results: a total of 14 experiments with 7873 subjects were included. The results showed that the immediate effect of the intervention on promoting students’ mental health knowledge [g = 0.622, 95% CI (0.395, 0.849)] and anti-stigma [g = 0.262, 95% CI (0.170, 0.354)] was significant, but the amount of delay effect is not significant. Conclusions: the results of this review show that ordinary classroom teachers can effectively participate in projects to improve students’ mental health literacy, significantly improve students’ mental health knowledge and attitudes towards psychological problems, and make up for the shortage of full-time mental health teachers in schools. In future, more attention should be paid to students’ mental health literacy, and evidence-based intervention research should be strengthened. Furthermore, we can improve students’ mental health literacy and avoid poor mental health by addressing delays in early intervention, as well as improve experimental design, prolong the intervention time, and improve the effectiveness of the intervention.