Effectiveness of Mental Health First Aid: a meta-analysis
This systematically evaluated the evidence for Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training, focusing on trainees’ mental health literacy, attitudes and helping-related behaviours, and impact that MHFA had on people who came into contact with the trainees (the recipients).
It’s said only around 11% of people seek psychological treatment despite its worldwide prevalence, and that a lack of awareness of the significance of symptoms & fear of stigma & social rejection appear to hamper treatment seeking. Further, it’s said “adults with mental illnesses are often perceived by the general public as dangerous and burdensome” (p245).
MHFA is a “manualized interactive curriculum program that educates … about mental illness [and the] main objectives are to increase the trainees’ knowledge of mental health concerns, decrease stigmatizing attitudes … and increase confidence and helping behaviors” (p245).
16 studies met inclusion criteria – 11 Randomised Controlled Trials (RCT) and 5 quasi-RCT. MHFA curriculum involved between 6 to 14-h training protocols.
Results
Overall, analysis of 16 controlled trials revealed that MHFA is an effective intervention for trainees exposed to the curriculum and that “these findings support the use of MHFA as an educational tool, though there is still room for further improvement” (p257).
Largest effect sizes were found for knowledge outcome (trainees’ awareness of mental health & skills to listen & support) and trainee confidence in helping someone—both moderate effects. Thus, MHFA training increases the mental health literacy of trainees and these gains “appeared to be stable when assessed at follow-up as well”; but authors were surprised that the gains from MHFA when re-assessed later on weren’t stronger.
Trainee attitude (their personal attitudes towards mental health & its stigmas, & social distancing from people with a mental illness) and actual helping behaviour had small effect sizes.
领英推荐
This study found that the confidence to assist was greater than the actual help provided. It’s noted that further research is needed looking at _actual_ helping behaviour given due to MHFA training, rather than just the confidence in helping.
Further, no increase in actual helping behaviour or confidence was found to occur over time – which would be expected if they had more opportunities to provide aid. Authors suggest that perhaps confidence may decrease over time if people don’t use the skills, and since the follow-up period was short, people just may not have had enough time to actually utilise the skills.
MHFA was found to have a small, but statistically significant effect on the trainees’ own degrees of psychological distress – suggesting that it may, to a degree, assist the trainees themselves.
Evidence was evaluated regarding the effects for the recipients of the aid – with no detectable effects being observed for recipients in any of the outcomes (e.g. knowledge, attitudes, help received or sought, psychological distress). It’s said that to date, a major limitation of MHFA research is looking at the effects of MHFA on the people who receive aid.
Improvements to MHFA curriculum may be accelerated by “involving people who have a mental health disorder or have experienced a mental health crisis … in the actual training … [as this] contact with people who have mental illnesses may help reduce stigma” (p258).
In summary, “the results of this meta-analysis support the effectiveness of MHFA for the trainees yet are inconclusive for the recipients.” (p259).
Link in comments.
Authors: Amy K.?Maslowski,?Rick A.?LaCaille,?Lara J.?LaCaille,?Catherine M.?Reich,?Jill?Klingner, 2019, Mental Health Review Journal
Adult educator - work health and safety, workers compensation, return to work, injury management and claims management; worker, worker representative and injured worker focussed.
1 年I am a functionary for a trade union. WHS and Workers Compensation. Lead workers compensation officer for NSW, ACT and Commonwealth out of NSW for twenty one years. Was a proxy for a worker representative on a Commonwealth Department EAP in the early nineteen eighties, consultative committee - we have heard, we will tell the Director what we want to tell him. About 2009 the AMWU implemented an EAP for members, somewhere I can point distressed workers or suggest. It allows me to do the job more effectively for those workers who need it. AMWU has utilised trainers to deliver accidental counsellor training to assist in assisting workers. I have completed the youth MHFA training via my roles in Scouting. I have completed the ‘senior first aid qualifications’ about five times in my working life and remote/wilderness first aid twice over forty plus years; the later just recently. First aid. First aid. That is my point it is first aid. Look up the ordinary meanings. It is not therapy, treatment etc. When I first came in to the union I heard about workplaces where ice packs are routine applied and massage of sore spots! First aid is not the provision of treatment etc. First aid. Repeat after me first aid. And the logo?! Why?
Working at the nexus of an Investor, Partners and Customers within a Natural Resources Investment Portfolio
1 年Agree with your thoughts Mark Perrett, I don't expect any first aid training to prevent an illness event involving others. It's asking a fish to climb a tree. Any workplace intervention aimed an individual level rarely provides a lever to prevent organisational factors from ceasing to have an impact on that individual. You can't wellbeing or literacy away a bully, a micromanager, a damaging workload, undertraining, lack of staffing or poor roster. See below model from Thrive at Work via Curtin University. Literacy is a small part of an integrated approach to employee wellbeing and community sustainability.
General Manager HSEQ
1 年Interesting. If only we were all trained. I highly recommend the MHFA course to all.
A wellness coach who helps men in their 30s, 40s, and 50s to thrive at home and at work
1 年It's a tough one. Are we expecting too much from MHFA training? It's not like first aid where you can objectively check for breathing, pulse, bleeding, etc. And you can't have a clinical psychologist leading every work team or investigating any incident where there might be some kind of trauma. There are studies that support increased mental health literacy having a positive impact on psychosocial risk prevention. Maybe our focus should be on promoting and improving mental health literacy as part of a multi-level integrated psychosocial risk management framework.
Innovating conversations, one thought at a time.
1 年Ben Hutchinson the downfall of it lies here: The skills needed to: * "recognise the early signs of a mental health problem, e.g. depression, anxiety, psychosis, substance use problems or eating disorders; * identify potential mental health-related crises, e.g. suicidal thoughts and behaviours, non-suicidal self-injury (sometimes called deliberate self-harm), panic attacks, traumatic events, severe psychotic states, acute effects of drug or alcohol use and aggressive behaviours"" When any sign appear it has already allowed a situation to develop to some advanced state as symptom/ signs do not emerge until a much later stage You need a context to work with and parents/ carers have no context to put their own experiences and situation in context as well as own experience of burnout and disengagement that are contributors to the experiences of this in their immediate environment It needs some unbiased tools which they have no access to and it requires a holistic insight to their own experiences as well as those they caring for