Effectiveness of Clinical Practices in Improving Mental Health Literacy and Reducing Stigma Mental Disorders in Students

Abstract

Clinical practice in a Mental Hospital is an essential learning method to prepare competent healthcare workers. However, low mental health literacy and high negative stigma towards mental disorders among students often become obstacles that trigger anxiety and stress during the practice process. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of clinical practicum in improving literacy and reducing stigma, and to analyze the determinants of changes in students' mental health based on the duration of the practice, age, and gender. This research is a quantitative analytical study with a quasi-experimental one-group pretest-posttest design. The population was 569 health profession students. The sampling technique used total sampling. Data collection techniques used questionnaires. The results of the validity test of the Mental Health Literacy Scale (MHLS) (0,876), the Opening Minds Scale for Health Care Providers (OMS-HC) to measure the level of stigma of ODGJ (0,870) and the DASS 21 scale obtained a Cronbach alpha coefficient value of 0.918, and the reliability results per dimension were depression (0.853), anxiety (0.776), stress (0.905). Data analysis used Multiple Linear Regression. The results showed that clinical practicum significantly increased students' mental health literacy (p=0.0007) and reduced symptoms of anxiety (p=0.0204) and stress (p=0.0287). However, changes in the stigma variable towards mental disorders did not show a statistically significant difference (p=0.3913). Multivariate analysis showed that the 1-month practice duration was the most effective period in improving mental health status, with the sharpest decrease in Anxiety (B=-3.714; p=0.000) and Stress (B=-3.549; p=0.000) scores compared to the 2-week duration. Increased literacy was shown to contribute significantly to the decrease in Anxiety (p=0.010) and Depression (p=0.045) symptoms, but the decrease in stigma did not contribute significantly. The demographic factor of age also played a role, where older students tended to have a slower adaptation to anxiety reduction (p=0.029). The conclusion of this study confirms that clinical practicum at the Mental Hospital is effective in improving the cognitive aspect (literacy), but not the perception (stigma) of students.