Mental Health Understanding from Culture Perspective: A Study of Lay People Mental Health Literacy

The gap between the prevalence and the access to professional treatment of mental disorder was one of the biggest problems that acknowledged by health professionals. Low in mental health literacy was one of the factors that contributed to prohibiting lay people to seek help. Culture has to get more attention in mental health discussion because it is probably related to mental health literacy aspects such as mental disorder recognition, belief about the cause of the mental disorder, stigma, even the help-seeking. In this study, we want to explore the mental health understanding from the sample of Chinese people's perspectives in Jakarta, Indonesia. The participants in this study were 130 people consisted of 85 women, 45 men (ranged 14-65 years old). The instruments to collect data in this study were two vignettes (depression and schizophrenia). The method to measure data was descriptive analysis. The result showed the mental health literacy of Chinese lay people was low, where Chinese culture mainly contributed to constructing beliefs about the cause of the mental disorder and the decision to seek help. This study implied the study of mental health should consider the culture to arrange a better mental health literacy program and help-seeking