1 Population Mental Health Group, Centre for Mental Health, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
2 School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 2018 Jul;52(7):638-651. doi: 10.1177/0004867417753552. Epub 2018 Feb 8.
teen Mental Health First Aid (tMHFA) is a classroom-based training programme for students aged 15-18 years to improve supportive behaviours towards peers, increase mental health literacy and reduce stigma. This research evaluated tMHFA by comparing it to a matched emergency Physical First Aid (PFA) training programme.
A cluster-randomised crossover trial matched four public schools in two pairs and then randomised each to first receive tMHFA or PFA for all Year 10 students. In the subsequent calendar year, the new Year 10 cohort received the opposite intervention, giving eight cohorts. Online surveys were administered at baseline and 1 week post-training, measuring quality of first aid intentions, mental health literacy, problem recognition and stigmatising beliefs, towards fictional adolescents with depression and suicidality (John) and social anxiety (Jeanie).
A total of 1942 students were randomised (979 received tMHFA, 948 received PFA), 1605 (84%) analysed for the John vignette at baseline and 1116 (69% of baseline) provided post-training data. The primary outcomes, 'helpful first aid intentions' towards John/Jeanie, showed significant group-by-time interactions with medium effect sizes favouring tMHFA ( ds = 0.50-0.58). Compared to PFA, tMHFA students also reported significantly greater improvements in confidence supporting a peer ( ds = 0.22-0.37) and number of adults rated as helpful ( ds = 0.45-0.46) and greater reductions in stigmatising beliefs ( ds = 0.12-0.40) and 'harmful first aid intentions' towards John/Jeanie ( ds = 0.15-0.41).
tMHFA is an effective and feasible programme for increasing supportive first aid intentions and mental health literacy in adolescents in the short term. tMHFA could be widely disseminated to positively impact on help seeking for adolescent mental illness.
青少年心理健康急救（tMHFA）是一种针对 15-18 岁学生的课堂培训计划，旨在改善对同龄人的支持行为，提高心理健康素养并减少污名化。这项研究通过将 tMHFA 与匹配的紧急身体急救（PFA）培训计划进行比较来评估 tMHFA。
一项基于群组的随机交叉试验将四所公立学校分为两组，然后将每组随机分配给所有 10 年级学生先接受 tMHFA 或 PFA。在随后的日历年内，新的 10 年级队列接受了相反的干预措施，共有 8 个队列。在基线和培训后 1 周进行在线调查，衡量对有抑郁和自杀倾向的虚构青少年（约翰）和社交焦虑（珍妮）的急救意图、心理健康素养、问题识别和污名化信念的质量。
共有 1942 名学生被随机分配（979 名接受 tMHFA，948 名接受 PFA），1605 名（84%）在基线时对约翰情景进行了分析，1116 名（基线的 69%）提供了培训后数据。主要结果，“对约翰/珍妮的有益急救意图”，显示出显著的组间时间交互作用，具有中等效果大小，有利于 tMHFA（ds=0.50-0.58）。与 PFA 相比，tMHFA 学生还报告了对支持同伴的信心显著提高（ds=0.22-0.37），以及被评为有帮助的成年人人数显著增加（ds=0.45-0.46），对约翰/珍妮的污名化信念和“有害急救意图”的减少也更为显著（ds=0.12-0.41）。
tMHFA 是一种在短期内增加青少年支持性急救意图和心理健康素养的有效且可行的计划。tMHFA 可以广泛传播，以积极影响青少年寻求心理健康帮助。
