MENTAL HEALTH DAYS

Name of the activity: MENTAL HEALTH DAYS

Country/NMO: Tunisia (Associa-Med)

Program: Mental Health

Contact information: [email protected]

Type of the activity: Capacity Building (Training or Workshop). Teaching and develop knowledge, skills and techniques in a particular field. While training can have any form, workshops are more formal and also include exchange of information between participants.

General description:

This national program is the main priority of both our national and local teams for this term and hopefully for many others and aims to train, educate and raise awareness on the mental health issues mainly among the medical students but also our universities and teachers.

Our main outcome would be raising awareness regarding mental health within medical students and promote a personal development unit in each of the four medical universities in Tunisia.

Focus area:

Mental Health among Medical Students

Problem statement:

Medical students in Tunisia believe that we, as a popolation at risk and futur health leaders should make out the mental health a priority. On one hand, our student life is getting more and more stressful each day, thus, putting at stake our mental health, several of medical students are suffering from mental health issues. On the other hand, students still find it difficult to get diagnosed with mental illness because of stigma in the Tunisian society and among medical students.

Target groups:

Medical students

Beneficiaries:

Medical students

Objectives and indicators of success:

Objectives:

*Promote, educate and train a large group of medical students about the importance of mental health and personal development.

*Promoting the importance of a support and personal development unit in each medical university and start negotiation with the university administration to create it by the end of the term, in order to improve the life quality of medical students and screen students at high risk of mental health disease

*Create a group of tunisian PHLT trainers on mental health by the end of the term:

Indicators :

Objective 1 and 3:

*Number of students trained :200 students (50*number of LCs)

*Number of students who answer above the average in the evaluation form

*Number of topics tackled by the end of the three days

objective 2:

*Number of meeting with the university administration (at least 3).

*The university accepts to work on the survey in collaboration with our Association

*Number of students the survey will identify as at high risk.

Methodology:

The first step takes place in all of our NMO LCs following the same agenda/ path: Three days dedicated to the Training and personnal development of medical students:

day 1. Worshop: Why is mental Health a PH issue:

Prevetion

health coverage and access to health

medical students: high risk population

day 2. Workshops on personal developement the main topics will be

Stress management

Addictif behaviour

the pusuit of happiness

cognitive-behavioral therapy and professional well being.

day 3. Debate on Mental Health through a Movie analysis on a mental health disease: How to deal with a person suffering from a mental disorder

NGA September: Mental health as a public health issue.

*Survey study among the medical students: the survey is about the risk factors among medical students, addictif behaviour and stigmatising behaviour. The results of this survey will be used among other tools as a mean for advocay toward our universities.

*Organizing a PHLT on mental health is Tunisia

Plans for evaluation:

post-workshop Evaluation forms

Feedback of members

Feedback forms for the participants

Feedback of stakeholders

Obtain 400 answers on the survey per LC Publish the survey results that is representative.

Follow up of the identified problems