The role of the family therapist and health professional in mental health promotion and youth suicide prevention

School Health Unit (UKS) is conceived to accommodate children's problems, either physically, psychologically, emotionally, morally, or spiritually. However, in its implementation, the majority of UKS in schools tend to handle physical complaints rather than provide more holistic services. The purpose of this commmunity-empowerment activity was to increase the role of nurses in the physical and mental health promotion of school children by examining the UKS role in Elementary State School (SDN) 01 Limo. The community-empowerment activity carried out included the provision of material about growing children both physically and mentally, training parents to communicate assertively with the child by responding positively to the child's emotions. Before the activity was implemented, 60 respondents were measured for their ability to handle the material and the assertive communication. By using the Paired T-test, the result of a significant influence on the improvement of knowledge, attitudes and psychomotor with pvalue = 0,000 (P < 0.05) was obtained. The respondents’ knowledge increase by 6.51 points, psychomotor 5.73 points, and attitude 2.46 points. It was concluded that mental health promotion efforts incorporated in UKS should be continued as the flagship program of SDN 01 Limo.

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Efficacy of mentoring skills in Indian Air Force suicide prevention training: Challenges and opportunities

Indian Journal of Aerospace Medicine ◽

10.25259/ijasm_6_2019 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 63 ◽

pp. 71-76

Author(s):

B Thomas ◽

S Chaturvedula

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Health Promotion ◽

Qualitative Analysis ◽

Ab Initio ◽

Suicide Prevention ◽

Air Force ◽

Prevention Program ◽

Mental Health Promotion ◽

Prevention Training ◽

Suicide Prevention Training

Introduction: Mental health promotion and suicide prevention are important initiatives of Indian Air Force (IAF) for its personnel. Institute of Aerospace Medicine (IAM), Bengaluru, has been conducting suicide prevention training programs for the IAF personnel since 1997. More than a 100 programs have been completed. In-time identification of the vulnerable, empowerment of instructors, provision of information about suicide prevention and improvement of approach toward the ab initio who are at risk are the focus of the suicide prevention program (SPP). This paper aims at assessing the efficacy of the mentoring skills imparted during the suicide prevention training in successfully identifying and providing support to the vulnerable ab initio cadets in the training establishments of IAF. Material and Methods: Mentors (n = 34) who are instructors in the training establishments in IAF and who have completed SPP conducted by IAM participated in the study. A feedback tool which was to assess the usefulness of the SPP in terms of the extended use of mentoring skills in their work, problems faced in the identification of the vulnerable persons, challenges faced in their mentoring activities were administered. Qualitative analysis was carried out and compiled. Results: Qualitative analysis brought out certain important issues regarding the challenges faced by the mentors and their competency in effectively dealing with the challenges. The results provide support in improving the existing SPPs and the role of mentors in mental health promotion in IAF. Conclusion: Suicide prevention program being conducted at IAM (IAF) was found to be beneficial to the mentors. It also addressed some of the professional and personal challenges faced by them. The findings of the study has brought out important take home messages for refining the program in the future.

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