None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
The MHFA Conversations about Suicide course is a specialised four-hour course focused on recognising and supporting people with suicidal thoughts. It aims to improve participants’ confidence and skills in supporting someone in their social network, such as a friend or family member, who is feeling suicidal. The course is based on suicide prevention best practice guidelines and is delivered by instructors who are trained and accredited by MHFA Australia. The current study is a cluster randomised controlled trial to investigate the effectiveness of the course in Men’s Sheds across Australia. It is expected that the course will lead to an increase in recommended helping intentions and a decrease in non-recommended helping intentions in the intervention group.
Interventions
The Mental Health First Aid Conversations about Suicide (MHFA-CaS) course is a specialised four-hour course that teaches community members to recognise when someone is experiencing suicidal thoughts and provide them with appropriate support. Participants will learn how to identify warning signs for suicide, support a person in crisis, help a person at risk of suicide stay safe and connect someone to appropriate professional help. The curriculum has been developed by MHFA and is based on guidelin
The Mental Health First Aid Conversations about Suicide (MHFA-CaS) course is a specialised four-hour course that teaches community members to recognise when someone is experiencing suicidal thoughts and provide them with appropriate support. Participants will learn how to identify warning signs for suicide, support a person in crisis, help a person at risk of suicide stay safe and connect someone to appropriate professional help. The curriculum has been developed by MHFA and is based on guidelines developed through the expert consensus of people with lived experience of mental health problems and professionals. The course will include the use of a handbook, PowerPoint slides, videos and offers role-play to practice help giving. The course will be delivered in Men’s Sheds by instructors who are trained and accredited by MHFA Australia. It will be offered to approximately 15 participants per course group by online videoconferencing or face to face, depending on the preference of the local Men’s Shed coordinator and Shed members. The face to face courses will be delivered at a suitable location within the local community, e.g. the Men’s Shed or neighbourhood house. Each Men’s Shed cluster will be offered one or two MHFA-CaS courses depending on the number of enrolments. The intervention group will receive the course between July 2021 and June 2023. The waitlist control group will receive the course between February 2022 and January 2024. There will be minor adaptations to the course to make it more suitable for older men. This will include tailoring of scenarios and the artwork to include male peers.
Sponsors
The University of Melbourne
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Prevention
Masking
Open (masking not used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
Male
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
Cluster: The local Men's Shed coordinator agrees to offer the MHFA Conversations about Suicide course to Shed members in their area and agrees to randomisation to the intervention or wait list group. Participants: Male, member of a participating Men's Shed and agrees to participate in the study.
Exclusion criteria
No
Outcome results
None listed