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Advances in Mental Health First Aid Training

A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Mental Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (4 April 2023) | Viewed by 3511

Special Issue Editors

Mental Health First Aid Australia, Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia
Interests: mental health; mental health first aid; suicide prevention; early intervention; workplace mental health; community intervention

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Co-Guest Editor
Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia
Interests: mental illness; mental health first aid; mental disorder; stigma; online intervention; depression; discrimination; anxiety disorder

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Mental illness is among the top ten leading causes of disability in both developed and developing countries, with depression ranked third in the global burden of disease. According to the World Health Organization, suicide is a leading cause of death internationally, and premature death, as a result of severe mental health conditions, affects global life expectancy by as much as two decades. Most people with mental illness do not receive appropriate treatment, for example, only a third of people with depression receive treatment. This may be due to systemic or personal factors, including under-resourced mental health services or a belief that professional services cannot help them. Research indicates that social networks (family, friends, co-workers) can play an important role in facilitating help-seeking, but members of the public often lack the skills and confidence to provide appropriate support. This is where mental health first aid training helps (including suicide gatekeeper training), teaching course participants the skills to have supportive conversations with those experiencing a mental health problem or crisis.

This Special Issue focuses on the current state of the research surrounding mental health first aid training globally. New research papers, reviews, case reports and conference papers are welcome to this issue. Other manuscript types accepted include methodological papers, position papers, brief reports and commentaries.

Dr. Kathy Bond
Dr. Amy Morgan
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

15 pages, 874 KiB  
Article
The Effectiveness of Mental Health First Aid Training among Undergraduate Students in Switzerland: A Randomized Control Trial
by Shota Dzemaili, Jérôme Pasquier, Annie Oulevey Bachmann and Meichun Mohler-Kuo
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(2), 1303; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20021303 - 11 Jan 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3077
Abstract
Half to three-fourths of mental disorders appear during adolescence or young adulthood, and the treatment gap is mainly due to lack of knowledge, lack of perceived need, and the stigmatization of mental illness. The aims of this study were to implement and evaluate [...] Read more.
Half to three-fourths of mental disorders appear during adolescence or young adulthood, and the treatment gap is mainly due to lack of knowledge, lack of perceived need, and the stigmatization of mental illness. The aims of this study were to implement and evaluate a Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training program among undergraduates. Participants were second-year students from two universities in the French-speaking region of Switzerland (N = 107), who were randomly assigned to an intervention group (n = 53) or control group (n = 54). The intervention group received a 12-h MHFA course. Online questionnaires were completed before the intervention (T0), and both 3 months (T1) and 12 months (T2) after the intervention in order to evaluate the participants’ mental health knowledge, recognition of schizophrenia, and attitudes and behaviors towards mental illness. We used Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) to examine the effects of intervention over time. After the MHFA course, the intervention group showed significantly increased basic knowledge and confidence helping others with mental illness and reduced stigmatization at both T1 and T2 compared to their baseline scores and compared to control groups. This suggests that the MHFA training program is effective and has significant short-term and long-term impacts, in terms of enhancing basic knowledge about mental health and improving attitudes towards mental illness among undergraduate students. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Mental Health First Aid Training)
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