THE EFFECT OF THE PSYCHIATRIC AND MENTAL HEALTH NURSING COURSE ON MENTAL HEALTH LITERACY IN NURSING STUDENTS: A QUASI-EXPERIMENTAL STUDY

In the literature, it is suggested that curriculum programs should be updated, sufficient content should be added to the psychiatric and mental health nursing course, and training programs should be organized to improve students' mental health literacy. This study aimed to determine the effect of the psychiatric and mental health nursing course on mental health literacy among nursing students. This study was conducted as a quasi-experimental study with 69 nursing students. The mean age of the students was 21.97±1.14 and 79.7% were female. It was found that the posttest mean scores of the mental health literacy scale and its sub-scales were significantly higher than the pretest mean scores. It is recommended to add sufficient content to the psychiatric and mental health nursing course and support it with clinical practice. In places where there are no units on mental health for the implementation of the course, consultation-liaison psychiatric nursing practice enables students to put the information they receive in the course into practice and increases the mental health literacy level.