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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the overall campaign reach and impact of the ABCs of Mental Health in Denmark; a secondary objective is to investigate how mental health-promoting beliefs and actions are associated with good mental health.

A questionnaire was administered to two representative cross-sectional samples of the Danish population (1,508 respondents in 2019; 1,507 respondents in 2021) via an online survey. The data were subsequently pooled together into one sample consisting of 3,015 respondents. In addition to questions pertaining to campaign reach and impact, the questionnaire also included a validated scale for mental well-being and questions about beliefs and actions in regard to enhancing mental health.

About 7.6% had been reached by the campaign (familiar with ABC name or messages), or 11.9% when also counting familiarity with campaign slogans. Among these, respondents reported (proportions in parentheses) that the campaign had 1) made them reflect on their mental health (74.2%), talk to friends and family about mental health (35.5%), given them new knowledge about what they can do to enhance mental health (78.4%), or take action to enhance their own mental health (16.2%). An internal well-being locus of control and proactive behaviours towards enhancing mental health are shown to be associated with higher mean scores on mental well-being, lower odds of low mental well-being and higher odds of higher mental well-being.

An internal well-being locus of control and proactive behaviours towards enhancing mental health are suggested to both prevent low levels of mental well-being and promoting high levels of mental well-being. The results indicate that the ABCs of Mental Health campaign may be implemented to promote such beliefs and actions universally throughout the population.

Workplace and study environments generally provide opportunities for social connectedness, however, not all individuals in such settings are equally well connected. It is possible that potential mental health benefits of participation in social leisure activities may be greater for individuals that lack social connectedness through a workplace or study environment. This study aims to examine if the association between social leisure activities and mental health is moderated by the degree of social connectedness at work/school.

Data stem from 2,406 adults (age range 16-64 years old) from The Danish Mental Health and Well-Being Survey 2016. Validated scales were used to measure mental well-being and depression/anxiety symptoms. Multivariable linear regression analyses were conducted.

Participation in social leisure activities (i.e. participation in community/social groups such as a sports association, art club, book club, running group, card game club, cultural or political group) was positively associated with mental well-being and negatively associated with depression/anxiety symptoms. The associations were stronger among individuals feeling less socially connected at work/school and strongest among individuals that were unemployed or not enrolled in education.

Mental health promotion strategies may focus on promoting social leisure activities especially among unemployed or otherwise socially isolated groups, as well as among individuals that are not well connected at their workplace or school. Workplaces and schools may also monitor employee/student social connectedness and potentially intervene accordingly.

Previous studies have shown a positive association between being engaged or challenged through a leisure activity and good mental health; however, this relationship may vary by the extent to which individuals feel challenged at work or school. This study aims to examine whether a challenging work/study (or the lack of it) moderates the relationship between engaging in challenging leisure activity and mental health.

Data from 2,406 adults 16–64 years old from The Danish Mental Health and Well-Being Survey 2016 were linked to Danish national register-based data. Mental well-being (outcome) was assessed using the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale and depression/anxiety symptoms (outcome) were assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire-4. Multivariable linear regressions were performed to estimate the association between challenging leisure activity (predictor) and challenging work/study (potential moderator).

Overall, engaging in a challenging leisure activity was positively associated with mental well-being and negatively associated with anxiety symptoms. For these two, a challenging work/study significantly moderated the relationships. The positive association between a challenging activity and mental well-being was strongest among individuals not employed or studying as well as individuals feeling less challenged at work/school. Similarly, the negative association between a challenging activity and anxiety symptoms was strongest among individuals not employed or studying as well as individuals feeling less challenged at work/school. Among individuals with a very challenging work/study, challenging leisure activity was not associated with anxiety symptoms. Finally, engaging in a challenging leisure activity did not significantly predict depression symptoms.

Mental health promotion strategies may focus on promoting challenging leisure activities especially among groups not employed or enrolled in education or among individuals that do not feel challenged through their work or studies. The results may further have implications for efforts to address and protect employee/student mental health at workplaces or schools.

Prior research on relations between mental health and pain has focused on negative mental health aspects (e.g. depression), while the literature is scarce in terms of positive aspects, such as mental well-being. This study aims to investigate prospective associations of mental well-being at baseline with pain and functional impairment due to pain in the following year.

Data stem from a Danish nationally representative survey of 5,000 adults (aged 15+) conducted in 2019 and 2020, which was linked to register data. The Short Warwick–Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale was used to assess mental well-being, both continuously (range 7–35) and categorically (low, moderate, high). Logistic regressions were conducted to assess associations between mental well-being in 2019 and pain and functional impairment due to pain (among those reporting any pain) in 2020.

In the fully adjusted models, each point increase in mental well-being was inversely associated with pain (OR = 0.97, 95%CI 0.95–0.99) and functional impairment due to pain (OR = 0.96, 95%CI 0.94–0.99). As compared to low mental well-being, moderate mental well-being was associated with an OR of 0.76 (95%CI 0.58–0.99) for pain and an OR of 0.63 (95%CI 0.46–0.87) of functional impairment due to pain, while high mental well-being was associated with an OR of 0.56 (95%CI 0.40–0.77) for pain and an OR of 0.53 (95%CI 0.34–0.79) for functional impairment due to pain.

Higher mental well-being levels may be protective against pain and functional impairment due to pain. Wider mental health promotion may be considered to prevent pain and associated functional impairments in the general population.

It is important within public health goals to promote adolescents’ mental health and to reduce socioeconomic inequalities in mental health. Among adults there are indications that the socioeconomic pattern of low positive mental health (PMH) differs from the socioeconomic pattern of high PMH. Knowledge regarding the social epidemiology of PMH among young people is lacking. The purpose of this paper is to examine the socioeconomic patterning of aspects of low and high PMH among adolescents.

The Health Behaviour in School-aged Children Methodology Development Study 2012 provided data on 3,670 adolescents aged 11-15 in two municipalities in Denmark. Socioeconomic differences in aspects of low and high PMH (self-esteem, social competence and self-efficacy) were investigated by calculating sex-specific prevalence of PMH in socioeconomic groups measured by parents’ occupational social class. Using multi-level logistic regression analyses, odds ratios for low and high PMH compared to moderate PMH were estimated.

In age-adjusted analyses there seemed to be a graded relationship with increasing odds for low PMH with decreasing socioeconomic position, but no indication of a socioeconomic patterning of high PMH. The prevalence of high self-esteem and high self-efficacy was higher among boys than girls. High social competence and high self-efficacy increased with age.

Public health research has primarily focused on risk factors and mental health problems. Research highlighting more detailed aspects of PMH is needed.

The socioeconomic pattern of high PMH may be different from the socioeconomic pattern of low PMH.

Within the framework of Health Promoting Schools Up is an intervention using a whole school approach aimed at promoting mental health by strengthening social and emotional competence among schoolchildren. Social and emotional competence is an integral part of many school-based mental health interventions but only a minority of interventions measure changes in competences. The purpose of this paper is to present the intervention Up and document changes in social and emotional competence among schoolchildren before and after the intervention.

–Up consists of four components: education and activities for schoolchildren; development of staff skills; involvement of parents; and initiatives in everyday life at school. Up was implemented in two Danish schools in 2010-2011. Social and emotional competence was measured among 11-15-year old schoolchildren before (response rate 96.2 per cent, n=589) and after (response rate 83.9 per cent, n=532) the intervention.

Changes in level of social competence were assessed by the prevalence of a high level of social and emotional competence before (33.3 per cent) and after (40.8 per cent) the intervention (p-value=0.01).

–Up provides valuable experiences for adapting evidence-based mental health promotion to the Danish school system which is characterized by democracy, autonomy and inclusion. Future research should study the implementation and effect of Up in larger scale studies.

The comprehensive description of Up serves as important information for policymakers and practitioners working with mental health promotion.

The whole school approach intervention Up has the potential to promote social and emotional competence and reduce socioeconomic differences in social and emotional competence among schoolchildren.