High school yogo teachers showed 3 factors of prodromal sign of mental health issues.
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The factor analysis resulted “Instability in mental status” as the first factor.
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The second factor is “Unstable interpersonal relationship”.
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The third factor is “Anger and critical thinking”.
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These factors are useful for yogo teachers in an early detection of mental health issues.
Abstract
Background
It is difficult to predict which type of student will subsequently develop psychosis. In Japan, the school nurse is called as a Yogo teacher and the role is similar to that of school nurses in Western countries. Our purpose was to investigate the viewpoint dimensions of Yogo teachers who had provided support to high school students with prodromal symptoms of mental health issues.
Methods
We designed and sent by mail an anonymous self-administered questionnaire to Yogo teachers of daytime public high schools. Ninety Yogo teachers (48.1%) responded. The sample for analysis comprised 66 Yogo teachers who had provided support for students with mood disorders. We performed exploratory factor analysis to determine correlations between the variables.
Results
Regarding prodromal symptoms of mental health issues in the students, the factor analysis resulted in three factors and 13 items. The factors were: “Instability in mental status”; “Unstable interpersonal relationships”; and “Anger and critical thinking”. The scales demonstrated satisfactory to good reliability (Cronbach's alpha = 0.761–.836).
Limitations
Since this survey was not conducted for mental disorders of high school students other than mood disorders, further studies are required to verify the specificity of these factors to mood disorders. In addition, the sample size is relatively small.
Conclusions
The findings of the present study suggest that it may be beneficial to monitor the emotions, cognition, social interactions, and interpersonal relationships related to the early stages of mental health issues in high school students.
