Effects of Nurse-Led School-Based Mental Health Education on Beliefs Toward Mental Illness, Social Distance, and Empathy in Adolescents

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.

Inclusion Criteria: * Be actively enrolled in the ninth grade, * Be in the adolescent age group, * Be able to read and understand Turkish, * Have sufficient cognitive capacity to complete the data collection instruments independently, * Have no previous participation in a structured mental health education program with similar content, * Voluntarily agree to participate in the study, * Provide written assent to participate in the study, together with written informed consent from a parent or legal guardian. Exclusion Criteria: * Be unable to provide written informed consent from a parent or legal guardian, * Decline to participate in the study, * Be absent from school during the eligibility assessment and baseline data collection period, * Have linguistic, cognitive, or communication difficulties that prevent the reliable completion of the data collection instruments, * Have previously participated in a structured mental health education program with similar content.