The Results of Social Worker Network Practice: Promoting Mental Health Literacy in Thailand

Abstract

The aims of this study are to determine the role of social worker networks in communities as a mental health service system, as well as to identify factors associated with respecting and nonstigmatizing individuals with mental illness. A mixed-methods approach was conducted from November 2021 to April 2022. Three-stage sampling was used for a quantitative study. 100 samples were employed using questionnaires. In a qualitative study, data was collected through in-depth interviews with 50 target groups using purposive random sampling. Confirmatory Factor Analysis, Multiple Regression, and Path Analysis were performed by LISREL. The results found that knowledge and awareness of mental health disorders affected respecting and nonstigmatizing. Both knowledge and awareness variables together predicted respecting individuals with mental illness at 55.1%. However, the knowledge variable was able to predict more than the awareness variable (beta = 0.76 and 0.14, respectively). There were 4 knowledge variables, including information, relationship, mental health disorder type, and mental health disorder feature, that affected respecting variables in 4 variables, namely, equality of human value, respect, communication, and kindness. As a result, promoting mental health literacy among social worker networks in communities is a significant task.