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Media Literacy and Mental Health Care Access
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Description
This book argues that, while media literacy courses teaching students how news, media, and social media might cause or worsen mental health issues is a start, media literacy education also needs to teach young adults how to reach that help.
Scaccia explores the critical role of media literacy in helping young adults navigate the often-confusing path to mental health care. Drawing from both scholarly research and personal experience, the book argues that media is not just a potential cause of mental health challenges-it is also a crucial part of the solution. Through original interviews with young adults and mental health care providers in California's Central Valley, the book examines how media messaging, platforms, and literacy levels affect whether and how young people access care. It combines theoretical frameworks from health communication and behavior change with empirical data to reveal barriers like stigma, functional impairment, and misinformation.
At the same time, it highlights opportunities for intervention through effective messaging, trusted messengers, and culturally sensitive outreach. The book calls on educators, legislators, and health professionals to treat media literacy as a public health imperative-equipping young adults with the skills to both understand the media around them and use it to reach the help they need.
Table of Contents
1. Getting The Good Word Out: Health Promotion Messaging in The Contemporary Era
2. Young Adults and Mental Health: A Media-Mediated Crisis
3. The Media Literacy Movement
4. View from the Mental Health Care Provider & Promoter's Chair: Media as a Gateway to their Care
5. Meeting Young Adults in the Media Landscape Where They Want to Be Met
Bibliography
About the Author
Index
Product details

Published | Feb 05 2026 |
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Format | Hardback |
Edition | 1st |
Extent | 192 |
ISBN | 9781666965094 |
Imprint | Bloomsbury Academic |
Dimensions | 9 x 6 inches |
Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
About the contributors
Reviews
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Mental health literacy is tied to mental health awareness, promotion, prevention and intervention. Young adults are becoming more cognizant of their mental health and related need, are finding ways to challenge stigma, and seeking methods to become more educated in matters to support wellbeing, some of which are via digital means. In this book, Scaccia, writes about some of the complexities of mental health help-seeking for young adults, recognizing the nuances of mental health access and service provision, as well as some of the broader social influences like stigma, personal knowledge, and peer support. The modern social and health landscape is the backdrop for the discussion threaded through the book, as Scaccia directs the reader through some of the complexities of digital and social media and the relationship to mental health literacy and help-seeking behavior. Early in the book, the theoretical foundations are set, with some core concepts defined. Here the central concerns about the veracity of information available to young adults are set up, connecting this to media literacy and the exposure to a vast array of health materials online. The book moves smoothly to considering some of the evidence in the field around mental health and internet enabled platforms for young adults, offering critical comment on the political landscape that shrouds some of the wider debates and moral panic. Indeed, the sheer scale of the benefit versus challenges of mental health literacy in online environments is spelled out through the chapters as Scaccia guides the reader through an array of research studies and political polemics regarding the issues at stake. Importantly, as the book moves on through the various issues, Scaccia recognizes the relevance and value of hearing young adults' voices in the context of the challenges they face in a contemporary digital society. Here we hear from young adults about their own experiences via the research study conducted by the author. Numerous aspects of their digital lives are explored through the latter part of the book, as Scaccia provides access to their beliefs, views and experiences, and a solution-focused narrative as they navigate some of the difficulties of the modern world.
Michelle O'Reilly, Associate Professor of Communication in Mental Health and Chartered Psychologist in Health, University of Leicester, UK
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In our ubiquitous digital culture, there is no shortage of public commentary about the impacts of our technologies on mental health. In a space that's highly contested, and politicized, we need texts that help us better understand media literacy as a tool for positive care-based approaches for healthy futures. Jesse Scaccia's text is positioned to help us navigate these complex relationships that are so central to our daily lives. It's a must read for those that want strategies for helping young people develop and sustained strong, and healthy, lives within this current media age.
Paul Mihailidis, Professor of Civic Media and Journalism, Emerson College, USA