PROMOTING MENTAL-HEALTH IN SCHOOLS - FIND INGS OF AN ANALYSIS OF SCHOOL BOOKS

Recently the promotion of health has been increasingly recognized, als o in the education in school. Thereby biological and physical aspects of health are mainly noticed. Whereas aspects of psychological health are ignored. This study analyses the knowledge on mental disorders and diseases as conveyed in schools. All school books approved for the su bject of Psychology by the Austrian Board of Education has been subjec ted to a content-analysis. What has been analysed here are all informa tions about mental disorders and diseases and psychotherapy, as descri bed in the school-books. The findings of the study demonstrate a consi derable variation in the quantity and quality of information as given in the different school-books. However, judged on the whole it must be stated, that the knowledge offered in the text-books is highly incomp lete, one-sided, and not in the least updated with the latest scientif ic findings. Consequently, from the current psychology text books one cannot expect any supportive impact on maintenance of health and copin g with illness. The impact of these findings is discussed for the cont ent of the psychology text-books.