Adolescent Girls’ Knowledge and Attitude About Mental Health Issues: A Questionnaire by Prasenjit Ray in SJPBS in Lupinepublishers
Background: The aims of this current study were to prepare and validate a Bengali questionnaire to assess knowledge and
attitude of adolescents about the various mental health issues related to them, and to conduct a pilot study with this questionnaire.
Method: It was a cross sectional study conducted on adolescent school girls (N=107, 12 to 18years age) from rural background
of West Bengal. A 13 item Bengali questionnaire was constructed, validated and administered on the subjects. Statistical analysis
was done using SPSS (16th version).
Results: Most of the items had good test re-test reliability. Mean age of the population was 13.09 years. Three knowledgebased
questions had more correct responses (50.5%, 52.3%, 50.5%) and one had 72% incorrect responses. Majority of the subjects
recognised problem behaviours, expressed a helping attitude, tended to seek help from parents, and thought sharing worries with
others and spending time with friends could make them happy.
Conclusions: This questionnaire appears reliable to assess knowledge and attitude of adolescent girls. There is need to inform
adolescents about various mental health issues. Attitude to help and a sense of cohesion was conspicuous in this population. A
larger and more inclusive study needed to generalize the findings.
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