Bronwyne Coetzee
Each year, October 10 marks World Mental Health Day. This year’s theme “It’s time to prioritise mental health in the workplace”, places an important focus on the mental health of the global workforce.
But what about the future of the global workforce? What about adolescents? How can we support adolescents to remain in school and ultimately contribute meaningfully to society?
Well, we could start by prioritising their mental health and well-being, and working with them to solve the problems they face. The workforce in South Africa faces increasing burnout, and poor mental health.
Researchers from UCT have recently shown that health-care workers are facing considerable work-related psychological distress contributing to a myriad factors impacting on their mental health and well-being.
The UN says more than 70% of the world’s youth are based in sub Saharan Africa, which means that the future global workforce will come from Africa.
Yet, adolescents on the continent, and in South Africa in particular, are facing many challenges that place them at risk for poor mental health which will probably affect their childhoods and schooling years, and also place them at risk of unemployment.
For those in employment, untreated mental health will lead to increased absenteeism and lost productivity, a drain on health-care resources and in the worst case, suicide.
In the absence of national prevalence data on adolescent mental health in South Africa, cross-sectional studies (most of which have been conducted in the Western Cape) show that a third or more of the country’s adolescents are experiencing symptoms of depression and nearly a third are experiencing symptoms of anxiety.
Left unrecognised and untreated, these common mental health conditions will probably worsen into adulthood where specialised psychological and psychiatric treatment will be required. Unfortunately, there are not enough psychologists and psychiatrists in the country to meet the mental health needs of our adolescents.
As such, we need to find ways to support the mental health of adolescents early on, through prevention and early intervention.
Supporting the group early on means we also have to identify the challenges associated with adolescent mental health.
Adolescence is a period of development associated with drastic changes.
In addition to trying to establish identity and independence, adolescents face considerable social, environmental and digital factors that impact on their mental health. Social and environmental factors that affect mental health include poverty, violence, substance use and trauma.
In South Africa, adolescents grow up in environments characterised by high rates of violence, crime and poverty.
At home, they might face food insecurity, parental neglect and abuse.
At school, their environment might be characterised by bullying and social isolation.
Furthermore, the personal and social stigma surrounding mental health conditions means that those who have symptoms might not seek help. There is also increasing concern about the impact of climate change and environmental degradation on adolescents’ mental health and well-being.
In addition, identifying symptoms of mental health conditions and seeking mental health support are not easy for adolescents, their parents or their teachers, which means many adolescents will go unsupported.
Digital determinants of mental health are those factors related to the digital world, such as social media, which may impact mental health.
Globally, there is much concern about the potential link between social media use and increasing mental health conditions among adolescents.
How can we address and support adolescents’ mental health towards a healthy future workforce?
There is no simple answer to the question. But, if we are to seriously consider the mental health of adolescents, then we need to include them in every aspect of decision-making about them.
This involvement entails including adolescents in research about them (and policy decision-making) through meaningful collaboration, co-design and co-production. Imagine asking adolescents to help inform interventions about them which address their mental health? Imagine understanding the world through their eyes, and being responsive to the issues which impact them most?
Working with adolescents to address their mental health needs means accessing them where they spend considerable time, like schools and communities. Exploring the potential of school-based mental health interventions is important and necessary as they might address many of the barriers to accessing mental health support that adolescents face.
School-based support will also probably help in addressing the mental health care of their teachers and caregivers. Schools in South Africa are increasingly recognising the importance of supporting the mental health of learners and are seeking programmes to address the need.
However, it is important that programmes are not adopted haphazardly by schools but that they are evidence-based, which means that there is evidence to show that these programmes work at reducing symptoms of common mental health conditions or supporting mental health and well-being (such as programmes with a focus on self-esteem and emotional regulation) and do not cause harm.
While building an evidence base may take time, researchers have the opportunity to work closely with adolescents and their parents, teachers and school counsellors to enable a healthy home and school environment for a future healthy work force.
*Bronwyne Coetzee is an associate professor in the Department of Psychology at Stellenbosch University.
Cape Times