Project: Understanding the stigma of mental health among ethnic minority and majority adolescents in secondary schools in Flanders: A mixed-methods study

2022-01-01 – 2025-12-31

Abstract

Despite efforts to destigmatise mental health care seeking, it remains taboo among many Flemish adolescents to talk about psychological problems and seek professional help. To date, there is limited knowledge about Flemish' adolescents' stigmatizing attitudes. In this project, we want to explore 1) how adolescents think about mental health problems, 2) what influences the development of these attitudes towards mental health problems, 3) if there are cultural influences that make adolescents with an immigrant background think differently than ethnic Belgian adolescents and 4) how the school plays a role in all this, more specific, social relationships with peers and teachers, the school culture, the school structure and the mental health school policy. This project will herefore analyse an existing quantitative dataset among 5022 adolescents in 38 secondary schools in Flanders, varying from low ethnic concentration to high ethnic concentration, and do in-depth interviews with key persons in the development of a mental health school policy. The end goal is to get a good understanding of stigmatizing attitudes among Flemish adolescents with and without an immigrant background and the role of the school and to be able to tackle these attitudes in future (school) initiatives and campaigns.