Mental Actions Research Articles

The effectiveness of emotion focused therapy on mental pain, experiential avoidance, and forgiveness in women with depression, who experienced a romantic relationship breakup

Introduction: Depression and love trauma syndrome are characterized by changes in mood and emotions and disruptions in performance. Aim: This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of emotion focused therapy on mental pain, experiential avoidance, and forgiveness in women with depression, who experienced a romantic relationship breakup. Method: In the present study, a semi-experimental, pretest-posttest, control group design with a threemonth follow-up was employed. The statistical population consisted of all females, aged 18-35 years, who experienced a romantic relationship breakdown in Isfahan, Iran, in 2021. Thirty participants were selected via available sampling and randomly divided into control and experimental groups. The experimental group participated in 10 sessions of emotion focused therapy (90 minutes per session). For data collection, the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-V Axis I Disorders (SCID-I), Love Trauma Syndrome Questionnaire (1999), Beck Depression Inventory (1996), Heartland Forgiveness Scale (2005), Orbach & Mikulincer Mental Pain Scale (2003), and Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (2004) were used. Descriptive and inferential data were analyzed in SPSS Version 24, using repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA). Results: The results indicated significant differences in the mean scores of mental pain, experiential avoidance, and forgiveness between the experimental and control groups (P<0.001). Regarding these variables, 73.1%, 39.7%, and 80.1% of the variance between the groups in the post-test, and 76.2%, 41.8%, and 77.1% of the variance between the groups in the follow-up were attributed to the effects of intervention, respectively. Conclusion: The emotion focused therapy was effective in improving the mental pain, experiential avoidance, and forgiveness of women with depression and who experience relationship breakdown. Therefore; this method can be used to improve the emotional health of these women

Teaching Geometry Using an Adapted Narrative: A Case Study with a Visually Impaired Student

Context: Inclusive education for disabled people is an ongoing debate within schools, making it necessary for teachers and institutions to create methodological pathways that ensure an equitable and effective learning process for all pupils, regardless of their limitations. Objectives: To investigate the contributions of a tactile adapted version of the historical narrative “Eratosthenes and the Circumference of the Earth” in the formation of geometry concepts in visually impaired students and the challenges associated with the teaching process, this proposal is based on the application of an adapted didactic structure through Eratosthenes’ historical narrative, focusing on teaching the similarity of triangles and geometry. The study was based on Vygotsky’s cultural-historical theory and Galperin’s theory of the gradual formation of mental actions. Design: The methods are qualitative in nature via a case-study strategy. Environment and participants: The research was conducted with a class of 46 students, of which one is visually impaired, attending the first grade of high school at a public institution in the countryside of Paraná-Brazil. Data collection and analysis: Data were collected through activities performed in class and an evaluation questionnaire. Data were analysed through content analysis. Results: The results show that the intervention contributed to the assimilation of mathematical concepts by the visually impaired individual and other students, showing changes in the perceptions of key topics within plane geometry, previously demonstrated by the students as partial and non-scientific concepts. Conclusions: We can emphasise the need for research and studies targeting the construction of proposals and materials that enable an equitable and inclusive teaching process for all students.

How to perform a nonbasic action

AbstractSome actions we perform “just like that” without taking a means, e.g., raising your arm or wiggling your finger. Other actions—the nonbasic actions—we perform by taking a means, e.g., voting by raising your arm or illuminating a room by flipping a switch. A nearly ubiquitous view about nonbasic action is that one's means to a nonbasic action constitutes the nonbasic action, as raising your arm constitutes voting or flipping a switch constitutes illuminating a room. In this paper, I challenge this view. I argue that one's means to a nonbasic action can cause rather than constitute it. In the process, we gain a clearer understanding of the scope of our agency—one that includes mental actions such as judgment and decision—and the pluralistic nature of basic features of action including control, purposefulness, and agent participation.

Alpha Suppression Is Associated with the Tip-of-the-Tongue (TOT) State Whereas Alpha Expression Is Associated with Knowing That One Does Not Know.

The tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) state is a spontaneously occurring metacognitive state that indicates that the answer to a query is almost, but not quite, at hand, i.e., that resolution is imminent. Since the time of William James, a distinctive feeling of nagging frustration has been observed to be associated with TOT states. On a more positive note, TOT states are also associated with intense goal-directed curiosity and with a strong desire to know that translates into successful mental action. The present study showed that prior to the presentation of resolving feedback to verbal queries-if the individual was in a TOT state-alpha suppression was in evidence in the EEG. This alpha suppression appears to be a marker of a spontaneously occurring, conscious, and highly motivating goal-directed internal metacognitive state. At the same time, alpha expression in the same time period was associated with the feeling of not knowing, indicating a more discursive state. Both alpha and alpha suppression were observed broadly across centro-parietal scalp electrodes and disappeared immediately upon presentation of the resolving feedback. Analyses indicated that the occurrence of alpha suppression was associated with participants' verbal affirmations of being in a TOT state, which is also related to subsequent expression of a late positivity when feedback is provided, and to enhanced memory.

Step-by-step formation of students' skill in applying the algorithm for converting numbers between number systems with bases p and q, where q is the degree of p

The formation of the skill of applying the algorithm for converting numbers between number systems, where the base of one number system is the degree of the base of another, assumes to use a set of tasks to convert mental action from a conscious, open, external state into an unconscious, surrogated, mental one. When developing such a set of tasks, it is necessary to rely on the basic provisions of the theory of phased formation of mental actions. At the first stage of learning the algorithm, it is reasonable to offer students a set of tasks and questions that will allow them to independently single out the orienting basis of an action in short form. Work with an open form of recording a number will correspond to the stage of materialized action, while a materialized form of mental action can be combined with speech; the result of students' work at this stage will be the formulation of the algorithm. At the stage of forming an action in external speech, you can offer students tasks to work with the wording of the algorithm; to do this, you can use tasks "with omissions" and errors in the description of the algorithm. The translation of the action into external speech "silently" will be facilitated by tasks for finding out an error in solving a problem, for applying one step of the algorithm. To automate the described mental action, it is necessary that students should perform a sufficient number of standard exercises to convert numbers between number systems, including tasks where the use of the studied algorithm is impossible. For further development of the skill of applying the algorithm, it is necessary to use tasks that may require recreating the original, open form of action. The authors' experience shows that six lessons are enough to form the skills of using this algorithm, three of the lessons are devoted to students' independent work.

The Role of the Will in Chatton’s and Ockham’s Theories of Consciousness

Abstract According to Ockham and Chatton, every cognitive process through which one genuinely cognizes a mental state involves a reflexive act of the will. They think that such an act is necessary to explain why we do not genuinely cognize every present mental act. With respect to a present extra-mental thing, an act of the will can only be elicited once such thing has been intuitively apprehended, because according to both authors one cannot voluntarily desire something whose existence one does not know. However, with respect to mental acts, Ockham and Chatton maintain the opposite: an act of the will precedes the simple apprehension of a straight or direct act. As a consequence, in both theories of consciousness the same problem arises: how can the will want something that it does not know? This article presents Chatton’s and Ockham’s responses to this question.

Saúde mental e proteção social de crianças em tempos de crise: o caso da pandemia de COVID-19

Background: Children and adolescents have been silent victims during global crisis periods. In recent decades, a worldwide discussion has been developed to include health, education, social protection, housing, food, healthy coexistence, and participation, among others, as rights on a global agenda and consolidate children's and adolescents' rights. The world is still experiencing the COVID-19 outbreak, which has been considered one of the greatest crises of humanity, with repercussions throughout the complex of social life. Children and adolescents seem to be most affected by the synergistic effects of this pandemic, with evidence of increased mental health problems, abuse, violence, and other forms of violation of their rights. Objective: This article discusses care strategies based on articulated and coordinated actions between social protection systems that include mental health services. Method: A narrative review of the literature on the Scopus platform was carried out during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. At that time, many organizations pointed out the impact of the pandemic on children's mental health and the challenges for social protection systems. Therefore, we sought to capture this moment through a narrative literature review to identify the experiences of other health crises and what could be done at that moment. From this review, we drew analytical categories to develop a recommendation guide that can be used to improve social protection systems for children and adolescents. Results: The analyses suggested that the protection systems must develop different social policies and care plans for children and adolescents during the humanitarian crisis that must include mental health actions and guarantee their rights. Conclusion: Based on our reflections, we developed a guide of recommendations that governments could adopt to improve their response to children during the post-pandemic future or in other times of crisis.

The benefits of role play in the development of drawing in preschool children.

The purpose of our study was to demonstrate the benefits of role play based on a Historical-Cultural perspective with the implementation of symbolic elements generated by the development of drawing of preschool children from suburban origin in a group of normal Mexican preschool children. We predict that the quality of the drawings will be improved after the preschoolers participate in such a role play program. A pre-experimental study was carried out, with pre-test and post-test assessments. The drawings were assessed with quantitative (frequencies of the quality of the parameters) and qualitative (characteristics of the children's drawings) methods. The role play program was based on Elkonin's method, activity theory, and P. Ya Galperin's formation by stages of mental actions. The program encouraged the use of graphic signs and symbols, with the intention of representing situations, actions, objects, and/or contents. Twenty-six preschool children participated in our study. To know the effect of the role play program with symbolic elements on the drawing of preschool children, we performed a quantitative and qualitative analysis, a Wilcoxon test contrast between the initial and final assessment. Both analyses showed a significant increase in the scores in all the tasks with a medium-large effect size, being the largest "Pictograms" and "Drawing of the route"; and in the analysis of the qualitative parameters, specifically in "Maintains the objective," a significant increase was found in all the tasks. Role play, being the main activity in preschool age, develops all aspects of the child's psychic life. The importance of role play in a preschool child makes it possible to work in the zone of proximal development with the regulatory function of language, with the planning, execution, and control of playful activity and, most importantly, with the use of various materials and perceptual-graphics tools. These findings showed an improvement in the development and complexity of the symbolic function in the drawings. Role play, as a work methodology in preschool age, leads to the use of new meaning systems that prepare the child to carry out present and future complex symbolic actions.

Development of a Clinical Nursing Guide for Attending to Caregivers of Dementia Patients.

Health promotion and health education play an essential role in individual self-care, as recognized by U.S. nursing theoretician Virginia Henderson who posited that the nursing profession helps people-whether healthy or ill-carry out activities that contribute to their own health or recovery, gaining independence as soon as possible. A three-stage methodological study led to design of a practical guide for nursing personnel who care for the primary caregivers of patients with dementia in the Havana, Cuba municipality of Marianao. Of the 14 human needs described by Henderson, the study addressed five that were deemed relevant, based on the professional experience of the authors and according to these caregivers' own expressions, as well as the possibility of carrying out related community work in health promotion. From 2014 to 2018, Henderson's human needs were contextualized and linked to health promotion and mental health actions in a primary health-care setting.

The Psychology of Mathematics: A Journey of Personal Mathematical Empowerment for Educators and Curious Minds by Anderson Norton

Reviewed by: The Psychology of Mathematics: A Journey of Personal Mathematical Empowerment for Educators and Curious Minds by Anderson Norton Firdous Ahmad Mala Anderson Norton The Psychology of Mathematics: A Journey of Personal Mathematical Empowerment for Educators and Curious Minds Oxfordshire, UK. Routledge. 2022. 238 pages. USING AN APPROACH that empowers students by fostering their hidden constructions of mathematics structures, The Psychology of Mathematics offers an innovative introduction to the often-ignored and less-discussed psychology of mathematics. The author—an award-winning mathematician, educator, and writer—uses an engaging and accessible style, thereby making the reading experience both enriching and revealing. The book, by virtue of its style and simplicity, is accessible to a nonmathematical audience, too. In a dozen chapters, readers are exposed to the gorgeous world of mathematics. Combatting the common misnomer that mathematics is boring and hard, Norton offers exciting discussions on various mathematical themes, such as the power of symbols, the geometry of numbers, and the wonderful gift of mathematics. The book discusses a plethora of engaging and enriching discussions, such as the unreasonable effectiveness of numbers in our diurnal lives, the ineradicable interplay of language and mathematics, and the innate ability—found in babies and some animals—to immediately apprehend small numbers. Figures receive more appreciation and attention than numbers do. A figure speaks more than a thousand words. By focusing on space as a product of our own psychology, we make geometry more intuitive. Observing that mathematical symbols provide a way for recording the products of our mental actions, we are no longer required to keep them in the mind at all. Mathematics is a wonderful gift. In the author's words, "It is a gift that keeps on giving, having given us everything from numbers to Neptune." The author does not attempt to make mathematics easier; he only envisions making it dearer and more valuable to the reader. He does so, and successfully, by cutting down on jargon and by enhancing conversational communication of otherwise difficult concepts of geometry and other branches of mathematics. The motivation for writing this book is not simply to marvel at mathematics but also to promote mathematics as personally enriching and empowering. The book is an excellent exposition of the incessant wonder that mathematicians and philosophers have experienced and expressed for millennia. It draws on what Galileo is reported to have remarked in his 1623 masterpiece, The Assayer: "Philosophy is written in this grand book—I mean the universe—that stands continuously open to our gaze, but it cannot be understood unless one first learns to comprehend the language in which it is written. It is written in the language of mathematics." It is not an exaggeration to proclaim that mathematics is the language in which the universe has been written, and Psychology attempts to bring the same fact to the fore for a nonmathematical audience. [End Page 79] Firdous Ahmad Mala Government Degree College Sopore, Jammu and Kashmir Copyright © 2022 World Literature Today and the Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma

From Drive to Value

Abstract This article takes up the processual account of drive and its derivations in relation to desire and emotion with an aim to explore the continuity of feeling from internal drive to value in the world. A mental state or act of cognition begins with an impulse and the category of instinctual drive. Drive partitions to desire, which is shaped by value. The combined concept/feeling can remain internal as emotion or distribute into action in vocalization or display. The transition in the mental state from drive (need) through desire (want) is constrained by intrinsic value, which accompanies the object outward as extrinsic value (worth). The partly intrapersonal nature of action prevents feeling from externalizing. Feeling drives concepts to completion. Concepts propelled by feeling undergo specification to images and/or objects. The feeling in the action gives intensity to emotion; the concept in the perception gives the quality of emotion. Feeling empowers concepts to finality, as emotions, ideas, or act/objects. In the animal mind, feeling empowers drive categories. In the human mind, feeling distributes as emotion into a diversity of ideas. Feeling unfelt in lower organisms is felt in a human mind according to the degree of individuation.

Interrogating paradata

The concept of paradata has received increasing attention in recent information scholarship. The literature however shows considerable disagreement about what paradata is and how it can be purposive. The aim of this paper is to facilitate the use of the resources and analytical impetuses offered by the concept of paradata by providing an explanation to what paradata is in operational terms.The examination of paradata is based on a scoping review of 53 scholarly texts that varyingly engage with the concept.The reviewed texts were analysed using a concept-analysis framework focusing principally on discerning the main descriptive features of paradata and prevalent instances of use and usefulness.The paper shows what the key elements, relationships, use-cases and uncertainties of paradata are.The paper offers a paradata proto-definition: paradata is information about processes that operate a network of means, mental and physical actions and intellectual regimen in the creation or shaping of a(n information) product. The paper also outlines interconnections between paradata, metadata and provenance data, and suggests why it might make analytical sense to continue exploring the concept of paradata in information research and what the objectives of such explorations might be.

Teachers’ mental health literacy and action competencies

Abstract Background Teachers are very important in mental health promotion and early recognition of mental health burden (disorder, illness). Teachers’ surrogate mental health literacy (MHL) may be key to improving mental health in youth but has been little investigated. We assessed surrogate MHL in Swiss teachers and tested a measure of mental health action competencies (MHAC). Methods In 2020, all teaching and support staff at compulsory school level were invited to an online survey covering individual and professional characteristics, MHL (finding, understanding, critical appraisal of information) and action competencies (adapted scale Ahnert et al. 2016, range 17 - 68) personal experience with students’ MHB. Data was explored descriptively and with multivariate regression. Item response theory analyses were conducted to examine internal psychometric MHAC scale properties, and group-mean differences tested between school levels. Results Participation rate was 38% (N = 459). Nearly all participants had taught at least 1 mentally burdened student in the past year (average 4.7). 77% felt experienced to very experienced regarding these students. Only 32% felt they had sufficient tools and teaching resources. Participants felt it was difficult to very difficult to find (47%), understand (53%) and appraise (90%) information on students’ mental health. Kindergarden teachers and teachers without class responsibility showed significantly lower MHL. Internal psychometric properties of the MHAC measure support the use of a 1-factor scale and indicates discriminant validity with respect to age; experience and school level, median score was high (P50 48, P25 44, P75 53), but single items, e.g. on suicide signs, were rated low. Conclusions While overall subjective MHAC are high, teachers are insecure regarding MHL and report a lack of tools and resources. Targeted training could strengthen surrogate mental health literacy with a focus on critical appraisal and certain action competencies.

Perception of providers on use of the WHO mental health Gap Action Programme-Intervention Guide (mhGAP-IG) electronic version and smartphone-based clinical guidance in Nigerian primary care settings

BackgroundTaking advantage of the rapidly increasing access to digital technology in low- and middle-income countries, the World Health Organization has launched an electronic version of the mental health Gap Action Programme intervention guide (emhGAP-IG). This is suitable for use on smartphones or tablets by non-specialist primary healthcare providers (PHCWs) to deliver evidence-based intervention for priority mental, neurological and substance use disorders. We assessed the perceptions of PHCWs on the feasibility, acceptability, and benefits of using smartphone-based clinical guidance and the emhGAP-IG in the management of people with mental health conditions in Nigeria. MethodsExploration of the views of PHCWs from 12 rural and urban primary health clinics (PHCs) in South-Western Nigeria were carried out using 34 in-depth key informant qualitative interviews with nurses (n = 10), community health officers (n = 13) and community health extension workers (n = 11). An additional two focus group discussions, each comprising eight participants drawn from across the range of characteristics of PHCWs, were also conducted. Thematic analysis was conducted using a three-staged constant comparison technique to refine and categorise the data.ResultsThree overall themes were identified around the use of clinical guidance and mobile applications (apps) in PHCs. Apps were deployed for purposes other than clinical consultation and decision making. Although paper-based guidance was the expected practice, its utilization is not fully embedded in routine care. An app-based decision-making tool was preferred to paper by PHCWs. Future usage of the emhGAP-IG would be facilitated by training and supporting of staff, helpful design features, and obtaining patients’ buy-in.ConclusionOur findings suggest that the emhGAP-IG could be a viable way to embed clinical guidance and decision-making tools in the management of people with mental health conditions in Nigerian PHCs.

Breathing is coupled with voluntary initiation of mental imagery

Previous research has suggested that bodily signals from internal organs are associated with diverse cortical and subcortical processes involved in sensory-motor functions, beyond homeostatic reflexes. For instance, a recent study demonstrated that the preparation and execution of voluntary actions, as well as its underlying neural activity, are coupled with the breathing cycle. In the current study, we investigated whether such breathing-action coupling is limited to voluntary motor action or whether it is also present for mental actions not involving any overt bodily movement. To answer this question, we recorded electroencephalography (EEG), electromyography (EMG), and respiratory signals while participants were conducting a voluntary action paradigm including self-initiated motor execution (ME), motor imagery (MI), and visual imagery (VI) tasks. We observed that the voluntary initiation of ME, MI, and VI are similarly coupled with the respiration phase. In addition, EEG analysis revealed the existence of readiness potential (RP) waveforms in all three tasks (i.e., ME, MI, VI), as well as a coupling between the RP amplitude and the respiratory phase. Our findings show that the voluntary initiation of both imagined and overt action is coupled with respiration, and further suggest that the breathing system is involved in preparatory processes of voluntary action by contributing to the temporal decision of when to initiate the action plan, regardless of whether this culminates in overt movements.

ПСИХОЛОГІЧНИЙ ФАКТОР ВЗАЄМОЗВ’ЯЗКУ ЛОГІЧНОГО МИСЛЕННЯ ТА ЗВ’ЯЗНОГО МОВЛЕННЯ В НАВЧАННІ ДІТЕЙ СТАРШОГО ДОШКІЛЬНОГО ВІКУ СКЛАДАТИ РОЗПОВІДІ-РОЗДУМИ

The article highlights the issue of the relationship between logical thinking and connected speech in the process of teaching older preschool children to compose stories-reflections. Based on the analysis of psychological literature, it was found that logical thinking and connected speech are considered by scientists as two interrelated processes. Scientists emphasize a certain dependence between the level of a child's speech development and his logical thinking: if a preschooler has a developed ability to think, logically explain, prove, reach conclusions, then this indicates, on the one hand, the level of speech development, and on the other, the level of logical thinking. The results of psychological research were taken into account in the analysis of statements during the identification of the levels of formation of the skills of older preschool children to compose stories-reflections. In the process of experimental learning, the formation of children's ability to distinguish essential qualities, similarities, differences, and to establish cause-and-effect relationships was essential. During the entire experimental training, techniques such as classification, grouping, systematization, selection of main features in new and known phenomena to children, connection of mental actions with knowledge, ideas and elementary concepts, rules that needed to be mastered were used. The author has established successive stages of formation of the skills of older preschool children to compose a story-reflection. Among them is the following: the rate of development of the ability of older preschool children to compose a story-reflection depends on the general level of the child's thinking and speech development. We see the prospect of further research in the development of experimental methods of teaching preschoolers other types of stories (explanation, proof, reasoning, instruction). Key words: connected speech, logical thinking, story-reflection, children of preschool age.

Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Legacy of Boston Personalism

Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Legacy of Boston Personalism

Electroencephalographic and Autonomic Correlates of Imaginary and Real Movements of Legs in Right-Handers and Left-Handers

—Changes in the spectral power (SP) of electroencephalogram (EEG) in the α-band and the heart rate variability (HRV) were studied in subjects with right and left motor dominance profiles during imaginary and real flexion of right and left feet. During the implementation of motor tasks, a pronounced desynchronization of α-rhythm in frontal and central leads and its less significant changes in parietal and occipital zones of both hemispheres were revealed. The peculiarity of right-handers during mental and real leg movements was the variable and asymmetric character of changes in the SP of α-rhythm in the bilateral leads from various cortical areas. In left-handed subjects, when imagining and performing movements, the desynchronization of α-rhythm in different leads had the same severity and there were practically no hemispheric asymmetry in SP. Right-handers had are latively stable vegetative status during the performance of motor tasks, and HRV changes occurred mainly with real leg movements. In left-handers HRV parameters changed more strongly and mainly during mental actions with their feet. Correlations were found between the α-rhythm SP and HRV parameters, depending on the type of movement and the motor dominance profile of subjects. The obtained data reflect the peculiarities of regulation mechanisms of voluntary leg movements and the differences in the vegetative support of motor activity in right-handed and left-handed people.

Stimuli in 3 Acts: A normative study on action-statements, action videos and object photos

The study of action observation and imagery, separately and combined, is expanding in diverse research areas (e.g., sports psychology, neurosciences), making clear the need for action-related stimuli (i.e., action statements, videos, and pictures). Although several databases of object and action pictures are available, norms on action videos are scarce. In this study, we validated a set of 60 object-related everyday actions in three different formats: action-statements, and corresponding dynamic (action videos) and static (object photos) stimuli. In Study 1, ratings of imageability, image agreement, action familiarity, action frequency, and action valence were collected from 161 participants. In Study 2, a different sample of 115 participants rated object familiarity, object valence, and object-action prototypicality. Most actions were rated as easy to imagine, familiar, and neutral or positive in valence. However, there was variation in the frequency with which participants perform these actions on a daily basis. High agreement between participants' mental image and action videos was also found, showing that the videos depict a conventional way of performing the actions. Objects were considered familiar and positive in valence. High ratings on object-action prototypicality indicate that the actions correspond to prototypical actions for most objects. 3ActStimuli is a comprehensive set of stimuli that can be useful in several research areas, allowing the combined study of action observation and imagery.

Impact of Mental Health First Aid Training Courses on Patients' Mental Health.

Background With the prevalence of mental issues worldwide, more and more people are suffering from psychological torture. Mental Health Gap Action Program (mhGAP) has been introduced to improve the life quality of humans. Objectives To explore and synthesize evidence of participants' experience of mental health first aid (MHFA) training course. Method Peer-reviewed qualitative evidence was systematically reviewed and thematically synthesized. Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (MEDLINE), Psychological Information (PsycINFO), PubMed, Psych ARTICLES, Web of Science, Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI), and National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) databases were searched for the inception of the present study. The study's quality was appraised using the Critical Appraisal Checklist for Qualitative Research of Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) appraisal tool. All the participants who have attended the MHFA training course (excluding instructors) setting were included. Results Six papers published between 2005 and 2019 were included for thematic synthesis. The review indicated that MHFA had been a positive experience for participants. Conclusions MHFA courses can provide participants with professional knowledge of mental health counseling and improve their knowledge, practice, and attitudes towards their patients. Professional MHFA training courses should therefore be popularized and promoted among other populations.