Mental health literacy in psychiatric nurses in China: a latent profile analysis

Mental health literacy reflects an individual’s understanding of mental health concepts, cognitions, and behaviors. Characteristics of psychiatric nurses with different levels of mental health literacy remain unclear. This study identified distinct subgroups of mental health literacy among psychiatric nurses and explored demographic factors influencing these subgroups. Employing a cross-sectional study using a convenience sampling design, a total of 120 psychiatric nurses participated by completing the Chinese version of Mental Health Literacy Scale. Upon identifying their potential categories using latent profile analysis, chi-square test, and binary logistic regression were performed to analyze the differences in the demographic characteristics of each category. Participants reported relatively high scores in the dimensions of recognition of mental disorders, knowledge of risk factors and causes, knowledge of professional help available, and knowledge of how to seek mental health information. The ratio of the total score and mean score in mental health literacy dimensions were 77.8%, 73.1%, 77.5%, 76.0%, 56.7%, and 55.6%, respectively. Two mental health literacy profiles were identified: ‘low mental health literacy, low recognition’ (13.3%) and ‘high mental health literacy, high recognition’ (86.7%). The chi-square test revealed that participants’ mental health literacy was associated with their marital status and professional title. However, the results of the logistic regression analysis were not statistically significant. Results highlight the significance of focusing on individuals who are unmarried, and hold a low professional title, as well as those who have extensive work experience but exhibit a low level of mental health literacy.