State of the Science: Mental Health First Aid Training of the Public

This article reviews the evidence on Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) courses, which train members of the public to provide better support to people with mental health problems or in a mental health crisis. It presents separate program logics for MHFA training of adults and for training of adolescents. The evidence is reviewed for the outcomes in these program logics. For training of adults, there is consistent evidence from controlled trials that trainees improve in knowledge, confidence and intentions to assist, and that stigmatizing attitudes reduce. The evidence from follow-up studies of trainees shows that most use the skills they have learned to assist someone. However, there are major challenges in using trials to investigate the benefits to recipients of first aid, as they are not consenting participants in the research. Other methodologies, such as population surveys and longitudinal studies, have been used to show that training improves supportive behaviors and that recipients perceive benefits from this support. For MHFA training of adolescents, there is similar evidence for improvement in the capacity of peers to provide support, but benefits to recipients remain a challenge to examine through research methods employed to date. Future directions for MHFA research include further investigation of benefits to recipients of first aid, evaluation in resource-limited countries, development of MHFA for supporting children, and innovations in measurement of outcomes and training methods.