A conceptual framework for defining and examining mental health promotion fatigue

Abstract The expansion of mental health promotion initiatives has increased public exposure to campaigns, programs, and activities designed to promote psychological well-being. Although these initiatives seek to improve knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors, the effects of cumulative exposure remain insufficiently examined. This article proposes mental health promotion fatigue as a candidate construct and presents a conceptual model of its antecedents, psychological mechanisms, manifestations, and potential consequences. The framework was developed through conceptual theorizing informed by a targeted, non-systematic literature search and selected procedures from concept analysis. Drawing on research on message fatigue, information overload, habituation, psychological reactance, and message avoidance, the framework hypothesizes that cumulative exposure to mental health promotion initiatives may be associated with a progressive within-person decline in receptivity. Habituation, information overload, and psychological reactance are proposed as possible contributing mechanisms, while cognitive, affective, and behavioral responses are treated as proximal manifestations of the proposed construct. The framework also identifies possible later consequences, conditions that may influence its development, and theoretical propositions for future testing. Mental health promotion fatigue and the relationships specified in the model have not yet been empirically confirmed and should therefore be regarded as provisional. The framework provides a basis for developing measurement instruments and evaluating whether the proposed construct offers explanatory value beyond existing concepts.