Soul Hearing Zone Study Results Report: 34% High School Students in Jakarta Indicated to Have Emotional Mental Disorders

Jakarta, December 17, 2024 – The latest research conducted by the BUMN Foundation through the Hearing Souls initiative Institute in collaboration with Health Collaborative Center (HCC) revealed alarming facts about the mental health of teenagers in Jakarta. The study showed that 34% high school students in Jakarta had indications of mental health problems, with 3 out of 10 students often showing angry behavior and tending to fight due to emotional mental disorders. 

This study involved high school students in Jakarta led by a team of experts, namely Dr. dr. Ray Wagiu Basrowi, Bunga Pelangi, and Prof. Nila F. Moeloek, who also received support from Fokus Kesehatan Indonesia (FKI). 

The results of this study became the basis for the development of the Soul Listening Zone Program which was designed to build support system, awareness, providing education, and providing data-based interventions related to adolescent mental health, especially in educational institutions. This program integrates scientific approaches and social innovations to create real impact, especially in supporting the mental health of the younger generation. The program to hear the soul has Hearing the Soul Institute as a research initiative on mental health that is committed to becoming a research and development center that focuses on health, especially for adolescents.

Dr. dr. Ray Wagiu Basrowi as the head of the HCC research team said, "The findings of 34% on the risk of emotional mental disorders are an indication of mental health disorders in adolescents in big cities like Jakarta and can be used as prevalence figures, but what is more important is that the results of this screening describe indications of emotional disorders and mental health of high school students in Jakarta. This is a risk that must be analyzed more deeply, because the findings are higher compared to data or even hypotheses of previous studies." 

Another finding from this study also confirmed that there were 10% high school students who felt vulnerable to their mental health status. This is based on the perspective and meaning of adolescents regarding the risk/vulnerability of experiencing mental health problems/disorders. Dr. Ray also added that this condition is a warning sign that self-awarenesss or aspects of adolescent self-awareness regarding mental health are actually still low, even though there is a lot of in-depth information available regarding mental health.

Several important findings related to this study also state that when interacting at school, high school students who were respondents in this study also tend to prefer friends as a place to consult and discuss their mental health problems, not teachers at school. In fact, almost 7 out of 10 (67%) high school students were proven not to want to visit the BK room, especially for counseling, even though teachers are aware of the risk of emotional disorders and mental health. This proves that the role of friends as peer counseling partners or peer counselor can be one of the mitigation agents. This condition proves that the role of friends as peer counselors or hereinafter referred to as peer counselor can be one of the mental health mitigation agents in schools.

Prof. Nila Moeloek as Minister of Health 2014-2019 and researcher from the Indonesian Health Focus (FKI) institution emphasized that this approach must be carried out very carefully, "Teenage students are still individuals who still need guidance, so consultation between each other must still be managed in the scope as a channel for storytelling only and not to be carried out as an effort to mitigate counseling because later there will be the potential for inaccurate advice because they still have to be guided, and this is also the task of parents, families, and teachers at school." 

"The results of this study are translated into a recommendation given to educational institutions called ZonaDengar Jiwa which is expected to be implemented by schools, especially the implementation of mental health screening, identification of problems and school-based counseling, and peer counseling and integration of health services with schools. This series is in line with the country's efforts to form a physically and mentally healthy young generation in welcoming Indonesia Emas 2045," he said. Program Manager Health and Wellbeing  State-Owned Enterprises Foundation, Heru Komarudin. 

Another recommendation from this study is that there needs to be an effort to intervene and promote mental health at the high school level in a structured manner that involves elements of teachers, peers, and parents so that the school environment becomes friendly to mental health. This is important to do because schools have the potential to become a major locus of mental health problems. Efforts rebranding BK room can also be an alternative solution so as not to appear to stigmatize students who want to do counseling there. Skill-based training is important to improve the capacity of teachers to be active listeners in schools.

To see the results of the Soul Hearing Zone research, please read morehere.