Mental health problems recognized by adults in an educational community

Problemas de salud mental reconocidos por los adultos de una comunidad educativa

Introduction: based on the promotion and prevention, healthy school setting model and the mental health-issues-disorders continuum spectrum, proposed by the 2015 National Mental Health Survey [NMHS], we addressed mental health issues recognition in an educational community. Objective: to describe the most common mental health problems recognized by parents, guardians and teachers in an educational institution, secondary school. Materials and methods: a descriptive observational study in secondary school  parents, guardians and teachers in a district educational institution. The self-administered World Health Organization 30-item version of the Self Reporting Questionnaire- SRQ, was applied to adult anonymous volunteers, to screen for mental health issues, Results and discussion: the most common mental health problems recognized by parents and teachers (47.4%) and guardians (42.8%) were two of the four criteria for diagnosing psychotic disorders; 31.9% were characterized by mixed anxiety and depression symptoms, among which headache (51.9%) and poor sleep (37,1%), stand out. The results resemble those reported in the 2015 NMHS, evidencing a state of non-psychotic nervous tension, a paranoid attitude and secondary anxiety and depression. Conclusions: to continue mental health promotion in the school setting and encourage mental health risk management among parents and teachers.