BACKGROUND Mental health literacy is essential for students to effectively manage stress, trauma, and academic demands, yet modifiable educational predictors remain underexplored. OBJECTIVE This mixed-methods exploratory study at Shinawatra University examined the roles of didactic teaching and mindfulness-based interventions in improving mental health literacy and reducing the adverse impacts of stress among 40 international graduate students in Thailand. METHODS Participants engaged in a 90-minute structured pro-gram integrating didactic mental health education with mindfulness activities (e.g., "grounding, breathing exercises, and gratitude reflection") RESULTS Findings revealed that 54.2% of the 24 respondents who completed the post-intervention survey preferred mindfulness activities for enhancing emotional understanding, practical coping skills, and motivation to seek help, while many re-garded both didactic teaching and mindfulness as equally effective. A total of 40 par-ticipants began the study. All 40 contributed qualitative data for thematic analysis (Table 1). The post-intervention preference survey had a response rate of 60% (n=24). The study identified top mental health challenges faced by students, including aca-demic pressure (62%, n=25), relationship difficulties (47%, n=19), homesickness (38%, n=15), physical fatigue (35%, n=14), and future anxiety (28%, n=11). Results indicate that didactic teaching effectively conveys foundational mental health knowledge, fos-tering awareness and destigmatization, whereas mindfulness practices cultivate emotional resilience and self-regulation. CONCLUSIONS Integrating these approaches addresses diverse learning styles, promoting a holistic enhancement of mental health literacy. This synergy equips students with cognitive understanding and experiential skills essential for navigating psychological stress-ors. The study underscores the importance of embedding combined didactic and mindfulness interventions within educational frameworks to mitigate stress and trauma effects, fostering student well-being and academic success
Ogunlowo et al. (Thu,) studied this question.
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