Mental health literacy of ADHD, autism, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder: a cross-cultural investigation

Background: Mental health literacy (MHL) is linked to help-seeking behaviours. Although lay people are not always well aware of mental health conditions, few international campaigns and interventions have been developed to raise awareness across cultures. Aims: To investigate MHL cross-culturally and to identify factors that are associated with MHL. Method: Using an online survey, 506 participants (103 Greek, 108 UK, 146 USA, 149 other nationality) read and labelled five vignettes of individuals with Autism, ADHD, Schizophrenia, Bipolar disorder and a healthy control. Factors influencing response, confidence and accuracy were compared across all participants, and the effect of various demographics on accurate labelling was compared between countries. Results: Recognition rates were higher than in previous investigations: 75.5% of participants recognised the Healthy vignette, 71.1% ADHD, 61.7% Autism, 56.6% Schizophrenia and 31.6% Bipolar. MHL varied across different countries, with religion, language spoken, and education having the greatest effects. Personal experience of mental illness partially affected MHL. Conclusions: MHL is relatively high for some mental health conditions, but public knowledge of other conditions is still poor. Factors influencing MHL vary across countries.