Graduation Term

2019

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

School of Teaching and Learning

Committee Chair

Douglas Hatch

Abstract

Education on depression is an important part of social emotional learning. Lacking emotion regulation skills tend to lead to larger problems, such as academic struggles, disconnect from peers, strife at home and trouble in interpersonal relationships. Research in depression education or educational programs connected to mental health literacy are minimal, especially at the high school level. The purpose of this research will focus on examining the impact of one depression education program, John Hopkins Hospital’s Adolescent Depression Awareness Program (ADAP). ADAP is a three-day program that informs students about the facts of depression, how it is treated, and what to do if the individual students or someone they know needs help with depression. The program involves administering the Adolescent Depression Knowledge Questionnaire before the program begins, and again six weeks later as a post-test. This study is a non-experimental quantitative study using secondary data from a sample population of approximately 260 students, ages 15-18, who attend a high school in the Midwest and are enrolled in a health education class (required for graduation). Research questions focus on the levels of understanding that students retain of depression and resources to cope with depression after participating in the ADAP curriculum. The findings of this study revealed that students were able to retain information about depression and ways to reach out for help following the ADAP program. Some items on the questionnaire came up as statistically significant while other items did not show significance. Overall, the benefit of incorporating an effective mental health literacy program into a high school can make a difference in a student’s life.

Access Type

Dissertation-Open Access

DOI

http://doi.org/10.30707/ETD2019.Minniti.A

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