teen Mental Health First Aid 12 month outcomes from a cluster crossover randomized controlled trial

Hart et al. BMC Public Health (2022) 22:1159

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-13554-6

RESEARCH

teen Mental Health First Aid: 12-month

outcomes from a cluster crossover randomized

controlled trial evaluation of a universal

program to help adolescents better support

peers with a mental health problem

Laura M. Hart1,2*, Amy J. Morgan1

, Alyssia Rossetto1,3, Claire M. Kelly3

, Karen Gregg1

, Maxine Gross1

,

Catherine Johnson1 and Anthony F. Jorm1

Abstract

Background: teen Mental Health First Aid (tMHFA) is a universal mental health literacy, stigma reduction, help￾seeking, and suicide prevention program designed for adolescents in Years 10–12 of secondary school (16–18 years).

tMHFA is delivered by trained instructors, in a regular classroom setting, to increase the knowledge, attitudes and

behaviours that adolescents’ require to better support peers with mental health problems or mental health crises.

Methods: To explore the efcacy of tMHFA, a cluster crossover randomised controlled trial was conducted with Year

10 students in four schools in Victoria, Australia, using physical frst aid training as the control intervention. Of the 1942

eligible students, 1,624 completed baseline and 894 completed follow-up surveys. Online surveys, administered one

week before training and again 12-months later, included vignettes depicting peers John (depression and suicide risk)

and Jeanie (social anxiety/phobia), measures of mental health frst aid (quality of frst aid intentions, confdence, frst

aid behaviours provided, and frst aid behaviours received), mental health literacy (beliefs about adult help, help-seek￾ing intentions), and stigma (social distance, weak-not-sick, dangerous/unpredictable, and would not tell anyone).

Results: The primary outcome—quality of frst aid intentions towards the John vignette—showed statistically

signifcant group x time interactions, with tMHFA students reporting more helpful and less unhelpful frst aid inten￾tions, than PFA students did over time. Confdence in providing frst aid also showed signifcant interactions. First aid

behaviours—both those provided to a peer with a mental health problem and those received from a peer—showed

null results. Ratings of both beliefs about adult help and help-seeking intentions were found to be signifcantly

improved among tMHFA students at follow-up. A group x time interaction was found on one stigma scale (would not

tell anyone).

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Open Access

*Correspondence: [email protected]

1

Centre for Mental Health, Melbourne School of Population and Global

Health , University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

Full list of author information is available at the end of the article