Abstract
BackgroundThe aim of this study was to investigate in members of the Chinese community in Melbourne the impact of Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training on knowledge about mental disorders and on attitudes to people with mental illness. The hypotheses were that at the end of the training participants would have increased knowledge of mental disorders and related treatments, and decreased negative attitudes towards people with mental disorders.MethodsRespondents were 108 participants of three MHFA training workshops for the Chinese community in Melbourne conducted by a qualified MHFA trainer. Participants completed the research questionnaire prior to the commencement of the training (pre-test) and at its completion (post-test). The questionnaires assessed participants' ability to recognize a mental disorder (depression and schizophrenia) described in the vignettes, knowledge about the professional help and treatment, and negative attitudes towards people with mental illness.ResultsBetween pre- and post-test there was significant improvement in the recognition of mental disorders, beliefs about treatment became more concordant with health professionals, and negative attitudes reduced.ConclusionThe MHFA training course for general members of the Chinese community in Melbourne produced significant positive change in the level of mental health literacy and reductions in stigmatizing attitudes. The evidence from this study, together with the accumulated evidence of the benefits of MHFA training in the general Australian community, suggests that this approach should be scaled up to a level where it can have an impact on the whole of the Chinese community in Australia.
Highlights
The aim of this study was to investigate in members of the Chinese community in Melbourne the impact of Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training on knowledge about mental disorders and on attitudes to people with mental illness
This study found that Chinese-speaking Australians and Japanese were more likely to believe that close family members could be helpful compared to the general Australian population and expressed more uncertainty about the usefulness or harmfulness of certain medications than the general Australian population
50% of the participants had lived in Australia for more than 10 years
Summary
The aim of this study was to investigate in members of the Chinese community in Melbourne the impact of Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training on knowledge about mental disorders and on attitudes to people with mental illness. Considerable changes were found in the knowledge and beliefs about mental disorders and their treatment among the Australian public over this 8-year period. These changes involved better recognition of the disorder in a vignette and more positive beliefs about the helpfulness of a range of interventions. These changes involve the public becoming more similar to mental health professionals in their beliefs [8]. There was a greater recognition of depression or depressive symptoms in a vignette as well as in the respondents themselves, with a corresponding increase in treatment seeking and medication use [9]
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