Lithuania: youth mental health – from research to policies, practice and partnerships

Apolinaras Zaborskis, Nida Žemaitienė, Vilius Jonas Grabauskas, Dainius Pūras, Robertas Povilaitis

WHO/HBSC FORUM 2007 - Social cohesion for mental well-being among adolescents. Copenhage

English

English

children, teenagers, bullying, boys, girls, school

Research

Parents, Teachers, Researchers, Young People, School Directors.

1 - 20 pages

Social inequalities may be contributing to the significant health inequalities found in Lithuania.
In 2006, 21 per 1000 children aged 0–17 years had a disability of some kind, with mental illness-related disability accounting for 56% of the total. The incidence (diagnosed new cases) and prevalence (total number of individuals) of mental illness among children were 118.6 and 1293.5 per 100 000 respectively.
HBSC surveys carried out in Lithuania in 1994, 1998, 2002 and 2006 served as a basis for the development of a dynamic database for the analysis and evaluation of young people’s health behaviour. The data demonstrate the wide range of mental health problems young people face, the main ones being: a relatively low rating of subjective health and well-being; growing prevalence of smoking, alcohol and drug use; high prevalence of bullying in schools; and high rate of suicides.
Most preventive mental health programmes for young people are implemented with the involvement of NGOs. Campaigns such as “Childline” and “Stop bullying” are examples of such successful initiatives. They aim to create safer school environments for children and promote friendly and respectful communication that does not involve humiliation and bullying. Other projects like “Teenagers in action” are aimed at encouraging involvement of youth volunteers to provide crisis interventions and education for peers. “One-day centres against risk behaviour” have been set up to reach the teenagers at greatest risk of self-destructive behaviour.

This document presents useful statistic data about youth mental health and bullying phenomenon in Lithuanian. This data is gathered throughout the surveys, which were carried out from 1994 until 2006. Latest researches are referring to this document.

http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/74769/Hbsc_Forum_2007_Lithuania.pdf

2. Lithuania youth mental health – from research to policies, practice and partnerships.pdf

Kaunas University of Technology