SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Health Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1700220
Meta-analysis on the effects of Mental Health Literacy Intervention on Teachers: Knowledge, Stigma, Help-seeking, and Helping
Provisionally accepted
- 1Shapu Middle School, Guangzhou, China
- 2Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou, China
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Given its critical role in promoting students' mental health and well-being, research on mental health literacy has increasingly focused on both in-service and pre-service teachers. We conducted this meta-analysis to examine the effectiveness of mental health literacy interventions aimed at teachers (including pre-service teachers) in improving mental health knowledge, stigma, help-seeking behaviors, and helping behaviors, while also exploring the broader impact of these interventions. Studies were identified by searching five databases (PubMed, PsycARTICLES, ERIC, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register). Of the 6,186 references identified, 18 studies were included in the meta-analysis based on the selection criteria. The results were as follows: (1) Post-training effects ranged from small to large for knowledge (g = 1.08), stigma reduction (g = -0.33), and helping behaviors (g = 0.48); (2) At the 3-month follow-up, only knowledge and helping showed significant medium-to-large effects (knowledge: g = 0.73, helping: g = 0.52); (3) At longer follow-ups (> 3 months), the effects on knowledge and helping remained significant (knowledge: g = 0.53, helping: g = 0.55); (4) No significant improvements were observed in help-seeking behaviors; (5) The results of the subgroup analysis were as follows. For knowledge, subgroup analyses revealed no significant moderating effects of region, participant type, experimental design, or intervention interaction modality. Concerning stigma, region, participant type, and experimental design were found to be significant. In terms of helping, no significant effect was observed. This study revealed that mental health literacy interventions for teachers were effective in improving knowledge, reducing stigma, and enhancing helping behaviors in the short term, but not in promoting help-seeking. Intervention effects on knowledge remain stable over time, while the effects on stigma and helping behaviors are inconsistent. Future research should include longer follow-up periods to assess sustained effects and investigate additional moderators of intervention effectiveness.
Keywords: Mental health literacy, teachers, pre-service teachers, intervention, Meta-analysis
Received: 06 Sep 2025; Accepted: 22 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Liang, Zhang and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Xinyong Zhang, pz2oon@163.com
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