None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Mental health problems frequently have their first onset during adolescence, but adolescents often do not seek professional help or show long delays in getting professional help. They show a strong preference to seek help from informal sources such as family and friends. However, friends may lack the knowledge and skills to provide effective support. teen MHFA training is designed to give adolescents the basic skills they need to support peers and connect them with an adult helper. The aim of this trial is to compare the effects of teen MHFA training of Year 10 students with a physical first aid training control group on: recognition of mental disorders, help-seeking beliefs, mental health first aid intentions, stigmatising attitudes, confidence in supporting a peer, help provided to a peer, and mental health. In addition, the trial aims to provide initial evidence on whether teen MHFA training could have potential as a suicide prevention program by improving ability of students to assist a suicidal peer.
Interventions
teen Mental Health First Aid (teen MHFA) is a new training course for adolescents in the upper High School years. The key messages of the program were developed using the expert consensus of youth mental health consumer advocates and MHFA instructors who work with youth. The program focuses on developing knowledge and skills in:
- recognising warning signs that a peer is developing a mental health problem
- understanding how to talk to a peer about mental health and seeking help
- when and how t
teen Mental Health First Aid (teen MHFA) is a new training course for adolescents in the upper High School years. The key messages of the program were developed using the expert consensus of youth mental health consumer advocates and MHFA instructors who work with youth. The program focuses on developing knowledge and skills in: - recognising warning signs that a peer is developing a mental health problem - understanding how to talk to a peer about mental health and seeking help - when and how to tell a responsible adult - where to find appropriate and helpful resources about mental illness and professional help - how to respond in a crisis situation, including where a peer is suicidal or self-harming. The teen MHFA Program consists of 3x 1 hour sessions of a teen MHFA training course for adolescents. These 3 sessions are spread over a maximum of 3 weeks (1 session p/week) depending on each school's timetabling requirements. Sessions are administered by an experienced Youth Mental Health instructor, with a student welfare staff member also present, to class groups of between 20-25. Also included in the teen MHFA program is the offer of the 14-hour Youth MHFA course for teachers and parents of adolescents who attend the teen MHFA course. This is administered by the same experienced Youth Mental Health instructor, and can be given in either: 2 days with 7 hours of training, or 3-4 shorter sessions of an evening, depending on what suits each school community. In the following year, a new cohort of Year 10 students will receive the cross-over (opposite) intervention, while the original cohort complete 12 month follow-up measures after the first intervention.
Sponsors
University of Melbourne
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Crossover
Primary purpose
Prevention
Masking
Blinded (masking used) (Investigator)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
15 Years to 17 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
Schools to be included in the trial must be high schools located in the greater Melbourne region. Year 10 students from these schools will be involved in the research. We estimate conservatively that there will be 100 Year 10 students per school.
Exclusion criteria
teen Mental Health First Aid is not designed as a suicide postvention program. If a recent suicide has occured in a school, the appropriateness of running the teen MHFA program will be assessed before formally recruiting the school.
Outcome results
None listed