Introduction: University students’ perspectives on mental health issues remain scarce despite the growing prevalence of mental illness among this population. Therefore, this study aimed to explore university students’ perceptions and beliefs about mental health and mental illness. Methods: Virtual in-depth interviews were conducted from December 2021 to March 2022. All interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic analysis. Results: Sixteen informants from a Malaysian university were interviewed. Four major themes emerged: (1) understanding of mental health and mental illness; (2) perceived causes of mental illness; (3) attitudes towards mental illness; (4) strategies to maintain good mental health. Most informants related mental health to an individual’s thoughts, emotions and behaviours, while a minority equated ‘mental health’ with ‘mental illness’. The majority of informants cited socio-environmental factors as the primary cause of mental illness. Unexpectedly, informants did not view religious factors as a cause of mental illness, although it was thought to be deeply rooted in the older generation. Nearly all informants expressed positive attitudes and willingness to help people with mental illness. However, some informants decided to cover up their mental health problems to avoid the likelihood of experiencing negative emotions. Most informants believed that living a fulfilling and balanced life, staying optimistic and being religious could help them to maintain good mental health. Conclusion: To mitigate the deterioration of students’ mental health, it is necessary to understand their perceptions and beliefs about mental health and mental illness as these may influence their help-seeking behaviours. The study findings showed that university students have a basic understanding of mental health and mental illness and most of them are supportive in handling people with mental illness.

Introduction: Previous studies have suggested that young individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) face challenges in achieving optimal diabetes self-management, leading to difficulties in attaining the recommended glycaemic target. The reasons behind these suboptimal practices remain unclear due to the limited number of studies conducted in Malaysia that focused on diabetes self-management among young people. This qualitative study aimed to understand the lived experience of young people with T2DM on self-management in Malaysia. Methods: Young people at the age of 10 to 24 years, who had been diagnosed with T2DM and the caregivers who managing young people with T2DM were interviewed. Data were thematically analysed with the aid of QSR NVivo version 12. Results: Sixteen young informants and eleven caregivers participated in this study. Three major themes conceptualised the lived experience of diabetes self-management: (1) the trajectory to T2DM diagnosis; (2) perceived causes of T2DM; (3) the efforts in diabetes self-management. The route of diagnosis and experiential knowledge about T2DM might determine their efforts in the self-management among the young people. Healthy eating, medication taking and physical activity were perceived as important tasks in diabetes self-management. The involvement of the caregivers in diabetes self-management evolved over time. Conclusion: The study highlighted the experience of young people and caregivers since the beginning of the diagnosis and their strategies in diabetes self-management. More understanding of the lived experiences of patients and caregivers in disease management within the socio-ecological context could help to improve health-care services and intervention for this population.