Sri Lankan School Student and Teacher Perspectives of Adolescent Mental Health and Its Determinants: A Qualitative Exploration

TL;DR

This study explores how Sri Lankan students and teachers understand adolescent mental health, highlighting the influence of Buddhist perspectives and the role of the school environment.

Contribution

The study provides new insights into culturally contextualized mental health perceptions and the role of schools in Sri Lanka.

Findings

Participants conceptualize mental health using Buddhist-influenced language and frameworks.

School environments are identified as central in exacerbating mental health risks for adolescents.

Adolescents are more aware of informal mental health support sources than formal ones.

Abstract

What are the main findings?
Sri Lankan adolescents’ and teachers’ understanding of mental health is predominantly rooted in Buddhist perspectives.School environment plays a central role in exacerbating risk factors to poor mental health in adolescents.Sri Lankan adolescents have more knowledge of informal support sources rather than formal support for mental health-related concerns.

Sri Lankan adolescents’ and teachers’ understanding of mental health is predominantly rooted in Buddhist perspectives.

School environment plays a central role in exacerbating risk factors to poor mental health in adolescents.

Sri Lankan adolescents have more knowledge of informal support sources rather than formal support for mental health-related concerns.

What are the implications of the main findings?
There is an opportunity for mental health promotion in Sri Lanka to leverage culturally contextualised language and frameworks.Schools are a key place to promote mental health to adolescents by integrating mental health programmes into the school curriculum and mental health promotion into routine educational practice.

There is an opportunity for mental health promotion in Sri Lanka to leverage culturally contextualised language and frameworks.

Schools are a key place to promote mental health to adolescents by integrating mental health programmes into the school curriculum and mental health promotion into routine educational practice.

Background/Objectives: Across geographical and cultural contexts, how individuals identify, communicate and help-seek for distress is often shaped by how mental health itself is understood. Insight into how adolescents and adults in their routine environment, such as teachers, understand mental health is crucial for developing context-specific mental health promotion strategies to young people. Sri Lanka, a country that navigates the dual legacies of pre-and-post-colonial mental health frameworks, has this need. The aim was to explore Sri Lankan school-going adolescents’ and their teachers’ perspectives of mental health and its determinants. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 28 school-going adolescents in grades 10–12/13 and 14 of their school teachers, from seven secondary schools in Gampaha District, Sri Lanka. Interviews were transcribed, translated, coded inductively and analysed thematically. Results: All participants drew on culturally meaningful language that is rooted in Buddhist perspectives to conceptualise mental health. Causes and risk factors of poor mental health were attributed to individual, immediate environmental and structural factors. School environment played a central role in exacerbating other risk factors. Adolescents exhibited more knowledge of informal care avenues for mental health-related concerns. Conclusions: Findings highlight several implications including opportunities to leverage culturally contextualised language/frameworks when promoting mental health to Sri Lankan adolescents, diversifying mental health research and initiating school-based mental health programmes that integrate mental health promotion into routine educational practice to transform learning institutions across Sri Lanka to become mental health-promoting schools.