Perspectives of pupils, parents, and teachers on mental health problems among Vietnamese secondary school pupils

BMC Public Health

Joske Bunders²  Tam Thi Pham¹  Christine Dedding²  Dat Tan Nguyen¹ 

[1]Faculty of Public Health, Can Tho University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Can Tho, Vietnam

[2]VU University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

关键词: Vietnam;    Youth;    Pupil;    Secondary school;    Academic pressure;    Stress;    Anxiety;    Depression;    Mental health;   

Others  :  1161580
DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2458-13-1046

 received in 2013-01-27, accepted in 2013-10-29,  发布年份 2013

【 摘 要 】

Background

Secondary school can be a stressful period for adolescents, having to cope with many life changes. Very little research has been conducted on the mental health status of secondary school pupils in South East Asian countries, such as Vietnam.

The study aimed to explore perceptions of mental health status, risk factors for mental health problems and strategies to improve mental health among Vietnamese secondary school students.

Methods

A qualitative design was used to address the main study question including: six in-depth interviews conducted with professionals (with two researchers, two psychiatrists, and two secondary school teachers) to learn about their experience of mental health problems among secondary school pupils; 13 focus group discussions (four with teachers, four with parents, and five with pupils); and 10 individual in-depth interviews with pupils who did not take part in the FGDs, to reflect on the collected data and to deepen the authors’ understanding. All interviews and FGDs were audio-taped, transcribed and analyzed for the identification of emerging issues using qualitative techniques of progressive coding, analytic memoing and ongoing comparison.

Results

Our study confirms the need to pay attention to mental health of pupils in Vietnam. Depression, anxiety, stress, suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts were seen as major problems by all stakeholders. Mental health problems were mainly associated with academic pressure, resulting from an overloaded curriculum and pressure from teachers and parents to succeed. The study found that pupils’ mental health demands interventions at many levels, including at the level of government (Ministry of Education and Training), schools, communities, families and pupils themselves.

Conclusions

Vietnamese secondary school pupils feel that their mental health status is poor, because of many risk factors in their learning and living environment. The need now is to investigate further to identify and apply strategies to improve students’ mental health.

【 授权许可】

   
2013 Nguyen et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 参考文献 】

• [1]Nguyen TB: Industrialization and the changes of Vietnamese families. Int J Acad Res Bus Soc Sci 2011, 1(2):347-356.
• [2]Ministry of Health: Health statistic yearbook. Hanoi, Vietnam: Ministry of Health; 2007.
• [3]Luu NH: Moving the mountain: renovation medical education in a changing Vietnam. Hanoi, Vietnam: Hanoi Medical University Printing Center; 2008.
• [4]Giang TL, Duong KH: Social issues under economic transformation and integration in Vietnam, vol. 1. Vietnam: Development Forum; 2007.
• [5]World Bank, SIDA, AUS AID, The Royal Netherlands Embassy in cooperation with the Ministry of Health: Vietnam growing healthy: a review of Vietnam’s health sector. Hanoi, Vietnam: Ministry of Health; 2001.
• [6]Ambrosini PJ: Review of pharmacotherapy of major depression in children and adolescents. Psychiatr Serv 2000, 51(5):627-633.
• [7]Tran BP: Improving knowledge of factors that influence the mental health of school children in Vietnam. In Thesis for Master of Public Health. Brisbane: Queensland University of Technology; 2007.
• [8]Nguyen TD: Child maltreatment and mental health among first year students in Cantho University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Vietnam. In Thesis for Master of Public Health. Cantho: Cantho University of Medicine and Pharmacy; 2009.
• [9]Nguyen TH: Child maltreatment in Vietnam: prevalence and associated mental and physical health problems. In Thesis for Doctor of Philosophy. Brisbane: Queensland University of Technology; 2006.
• [10]Huynh HNQ: Exploring the mental health of public health and nursing students in Ho Chi minh city, Vietnam. In Thesis for Master of Public Health. Brisbane: Queensland University of Technology; 2009.
• [11]Giannakopoulos G, Tzavara C, Dimitrakaki C, Kolaiti G, Rotsika V, Tountas Y: Emotional, behavioural problems and cigarette smoking in adolescence: findings of a Greek cross-sectional study. BMC Public Health 2010., 10(57) http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1471-2458-10-57.pdf webcite
• [12]Murphy DA, Shetty V, Dent M, Herbeck DM, Der-Martirosian C, Urata M, Yamashita D-D: Adolescent orofacial injury: association with psychological symptoms. Psychol Health Med 2010, 15(5):574-583.
• [13]Central Population and Housing Census Steering Committee: The 2009 Vietnam population and housing census: completed results. Hanoi: General Statistics Office of Vietnam; 2010:5.
• [14]Tran TN: Vietnamese family in the new international context. Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences; 2008. http://www.trf.or.th/TRFGallery/Upload/Gallery/…/1000000011.pdf webcite
• [15]Amstadter AB, Richardson L, Meyer A, Sawyer G, Kilpatrick DG, Tran TL, Trung LT, Tam NT, Tuan T, Buoi LT, et al.: Prevalence and correlates of probable adolescent mental health problems reported by parents in Vietnam. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 2011, 46:95-100.
• [16]Do QD: Depression and stress among the first year medical students in university of medicine and pharmacy at Ho Chi minh city, Vietnam. In Thesis for Master of Public Health. Bangkok: Chulalongkorn University; 2007.
• [17]McKelvey RS, Davies LC, Sang DL, Pickering KR, Tu HC: Problems and competencies reported by parents of Vietnamese children in Hanoi. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 1999, 38(6):731-737.
• [18]Liu H, Shuzhuo L: Social change and psychological well-being in urban and rural China. Asia Health Policy Program Pap Ser 2011., 23http://iis-db.stanford.edu/pubs/23369/AHPPwp_23.pdf webcite
• [19]Education in Vietnam http://www.edcal.com/215425.page webcite
• [20]Thai TT: Educational stress and mental health among secondary and high school students in Ho Chi minh city, Vietnam. In Thesis for Master of Public Health. Brisbane: Queensland University of Technology; 2010.
• [21]Sun J, Dunne MP, Hou X-y, Xu A-q: Association between academic stress and mental health among Chinese adolescents. In Thesis for Doctor of Philosophy. Brisbane: Queensland University of Technology; 2010.
• [22]Cantho: 252 fights among pupils in academic year 2009–2010 (Cần Thơ: 252 vụ học sinh đánh nhau trong năm học 2009–2010) http://dantri.com.vn/c25/s25-435026/252-vu-hoc-sinh-danh-nhau-trong-nam-hoc-20092010.htm webcite
• [23]Herman KC, Ostrander R: Do family environments and negative cognitions of adolescents with depressive symptoms vary by ethnic group? J Fam Psychol 2007, 21(2):325-330.
• [24]Sheeber L, Hops H, Alpert A, Davis B, Andrews J: Family support and conflict: prospective relations to adolescent depression. J Abnorm Child Psychol 1997, 25(4):333-344.
• [25]Yuen CW: Child maltreatment in Malaysia: prevalence, correlates, and probable health and behavioural consequences. Brisbane: Queensland University of Technology; 2007.
• [26]Akin A, Iskender M: Internet addiction and depression, anxiety and stress. Int Online J Educ Sci 2011, 3(1):138-148.
• [27]Cao F, Su L: Internet addiction among Chinese adolescents: prevalence and psychological features. J Comp 2006, 33(3):275-281.
• [28]Milhausen RR, Yarber WL, Crosby R: Self-reported depression and sexual risk behaviors among a national sample of rural high school students. Health Educ Monogr Ser 2003, 20(2):33-39.
• [29]Blanc M-E: Social construction of male homosexualities in Vietnam. Some keys to understanding discrimination and implications for HIV prevention strategy. Int Soc Sci J 2005, 57(186):661-673. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1468-2451.2005.583.x/abstract webcite
• [30]D’augelli AR: Mental health problems among lesbian, gay, and bisexual youths aged 14 to 21. Clin Child Psychol Psychiatry 2002, 7(3):433-456.
• [31]Rotheram-Borus MJ: Suicidal behavior and gay-related stress among gay and bisexual male adolescents. J Adolesc Res 1994, 9(4):498-508.
• [32]Goodman R, Ford T, Simmons H, Gatward R, Meltzer H: Using the strengths and difficulties questionnaire (SDQ) to screen for child psychiatric disorders in a community sample. Bristish J Psych 2000, 117:534-539.