Abstract
BackgroundMental Health First Aid (MHFA) training was developed in Australia to teach members of the public how to give initial help to someone developing a mental health problem or in a mental health crisis situation. However, this type of training requires adaptation for specific cultural groups in the community. This paper describes the adaptation of the program to create an Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mental Health First Aid (AMHFA) course and presents an initial evaluation of its uptake and acceptability.MethodsTo evaluate the program, two types of data were collected: (1) quantitative data on uptake of the course (number of Instructors trained and courses subsequently run by these Instructors); (2) qualitative data on strengths, weaknesses and recommendations for the future derived from interviews with program staff and focus groups with Instructors and community participants.Results199 Aboriginal people were trained as Instructors in a five day Instructor Training Course. With sufficient time following training, the majority of these Instructors subsequently ran 14-hour AMHFA courses for Aboriginal people in their community. Instructors were more likely to run courses if they had prior teaching experience and if there was post-course contact with one of the Trainers of Instructors. Analysis of qualitative data indicated that the Instructor Training Course and the AMHFA course are culturally appropriate, empowering for Aboriginal people, and provided information that was seen as highly relevant and important in assisting Aboriginal people with a mental illness. There were a number of recommendations for improvements.ConclusionThe AMHFA program is culturally appropriate and acceptable to Aboriginal people. Further work is needed to refine the course and to evaluate its impact on help provided to Aboriginal people with mental health problems.
Highlights
Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training was developed in Australia to teach members of the public how to give initial help to someone developing a mental health problem or in a mental health crisis situation
Quantitative data were collected to measure number of Instructors trained in the 5-day Instructor Training Course and number of 14-hour AMHFA courses subsequently run by these Instructors
Uptake of the Instructor Training Program The inaugural 5-day AMHFA Instructor Training Course commenced on 5th March, 2007
Summary
Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training was developed in Australia to teach members of the public how to give initial help to someone developing a mental health problem or in a mental health crisis situation. Culturally-sensitive training of the public needs to take account of such factors as: the cultural group's dominant understanding of mental disorders, particular risk and protection factors operating in that group, cultural rules that may affect what are considered appropriate first aid actions, and the availability of culturally-appropriate professional help to which a person may be referred. For this reason, it has been necessary to carry out cultural adaptation of the course as it has spread to other countries and to accommodate the needs of cultural minorities within a country [5]
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