Abstract
BackgroundSuicide is among the leading causes of death among people aged 15 to 29 worldwide. Healthcare professionals interact with people at risk of suicide regularly, yet mental health and crisis first aid training is lacking in curricula. Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training teaches crucial communication and crisis first aid skills and is increasingly recognised as integral to healthcare education. This study aimed to explore the extent of, as well as barriers and enablers to MHFA training delivery and assessment in Australian medical, nursing and pharmacy curricula.MethodsAll accredited Australian medical, nursing and pharmacy program providers were identified through Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency and National Boards websites and invited to participate in a semi-structured interview. A purpose-designed interview guide explored if and how MHFA training was delivered and assessed in curricula, as well as perceptions of and barriers and enablers to MHFA training. Interview recordings were transcribed verbatim, allowing for deductive content analysis to compare MHFA training provision across programs.ResultsOf 75 invited program providers, 36 (48%; 13 medical, 13 nursing and 10 pharmacy) participated, of which 15 representatives (42%; six medical, two nursing and six pharmacy) reported providing MHFA training to students. Differences in mandating training, year level of students completing training, type of training delivered and source of MHFA instructors were identified. Barriers to MHFA implementation included perceived adequacy of existing curricula, lack of funding and time, while facilitators included perceived benefit and availability of funding.ConclusionMHFA training is provided to more than one third of medical, nursing and pharmacy students in Australia. Increased funding may facilitate the integration of MHFA as a minimum standard of mental health training for future healthcare professionals. Further research exploring the effectiveness of MHFA in improving behaviours and its impact on patient outcomes is warranted.Trial registrationThis study was approved by the University of Sydney Human Research Ethics Committee [Project number: 2020/087].
Highlights
Suicide is among the leading causes of death among people aged 15 to 29 worldwide
An independent review of Australian nursing curricula highlighted insufficient mental health expertise to accommodate for the growing demand for mental healthcare, noting that current accreditation standards allow for inconsistencies in mental health education delivery as higher degree providers are able to choose what content to include [9]
With increasing citations in the literature stating the need for Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) as a pre-requisite in work places [29,30,31] and a need for increased mental health support, this study aimed to explore the extent of, as well as barriers and enablers to MHFA training delivery and assessment among Australian medical, pharmacy and nursing program providers
Summary
Suicide is among the leading causes of death among people aged 15 to 29 worldwide. Healthcare professionals interact with people at risk of suicide regularly, yet mental health and crisis first aid training is lacking in curricula. An independent review of Australian nursing curricula highlighted insufficient mental health expertise to accommodate for the growing demand for mental healthcare, noting that current accreditation standards allow for inconsistencies in mental health education delivery as higher degree providers are able to choose what content to include [9]. This lack of mental health crisis training and consistency in core healthcare curricula is echoed in psychiatry [10] and pharmacy [11] programs where the disparity between burden of mental illness and time allocated to mental health teaching is apparent [10].
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