Longer-term effectiveness of eLearning and blended delivery of Mental Health First Aid training in the workplace: 2-Year follow-up of a randomised controlled trial

Abstract

Introduction Evidence relating to long-term outcomes of online education programs is largely lacking and head-to-head comparisons of different delivery formats are very rare. The aims of the study were to test whether eLearning Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) or blended training (eLearning plus face-to-face course delivery), implemented in an Australian public sector workplace, were more effective than a control intervention at 1-year and 2-year follow-up, and whether blended MHFA training was more effective than eLearning alone. Material and methods Australian public servants ( n = 608 at baseline) were randomly assigned to complete an eLearning MHFA course, a blended MHFA course or Red Cross eLearning Provide First Aid (PFA) (the control) and completed online questionnaires pre- and post-training and one and two years later ( n = 289, n = 272, n = 243 at post, 1- and 2-year follow-up respectively). The questionnaires were based on vignettes describing a person with depression or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Primary outcomes were mental health first aid knowledge, desire for social distance and quality of support provided to a person in the workplace. Secondary outcomes were recognition of mental health problems, beliefs about treatment, helping intentions and confidence, personal stigma, quality of support provided to a person outside the workplace, self-reported professional help seeking and psychological distress. Results At 1-year follow-up, both eLearning and blended courses produced greater improvements than PFA training in knowledge, confidence and intentions to help a person with depression or PTSD, beliefs about dangerousness and desire for social distance. At 2-year follow-up, some of these improvements were maintained, particularly those relating to knowledge and intentions to help someone with PTSD. When eLearning and blended courses were compared at 1-year follow-up, the blended course led to greater improvements in knowledge and in confidence and intentions to help a person with depression. At 2-year follow-up, improvements in the quality of help provided to a person with a mental health problem outside the workplace were greater in participants in the blended course. Conclusions Both blended and eLearning MHFA courses led to significant longer-term improvements in knowledge, attitudes and intentions to help a person with a mental health problem. Blended MHFA training led to an improvement in the quality of helping behaviours and appears to be more effective than online training alone. Trial registration ACTRN12614000623695 registered on 13/06/2014 (prospectively registered). Trial registry record url: https://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=366410&isReview=true

Evaluation of the Conversations about Non-Suicidal Self-Injury Mental Health First Aid Course: Effects on Knowledge, Stigmatising Attitudes, Confidence and Helping Behaviour

“…Additionally, the absence of a control group makes it difficult to discern whether observed effects resulted from the course itself or extraneous factors that were not captured in this evaluation. The largely female, well-educated, English-speaking sample is consistent with participant groups from previous MHFA course evaluations [ 20 , 39 ] but limits generalisability outside of this demographic. Relatedly, the vignette of a young female used in this survey, while consistent with national demographic data on the prevalence of NSSI in Australia [ 3 ], may not be relatable to all participants, such as older people and males.…”

Evidence for the effectiveness of interventions to reduce mental health related stigma in the workplace: a systematic review

“…Both interventions resulted in a significant reduction of stigmatising beliefs, but a longer effect was seen by the blended intervention at 6 months follow-up, which was measured by the Opening Minds Scale for Healthcare Providers 44. In a study by Reavley et al 608 public sector employees were randomised into different interventions: two MHFA (Mental Health First Aid) and PFA (Psychological First Aid) online courses and a blended MHFA one 55 56. Significant reduction in stigma scores were found in each intervention groups post training and 1 year follow-up and the Personal Stigma Scale12 showed no significant difference between online and blended courses.…”

“…The finding that online interventions might be just as effective as face-to-face interventions was also confirmed by two further randomised controlled studies identified in this review. Reavley et al 55 56 found no significant difference between the effectiveness of blended and purely online interventions on stigmatising attitudes, and a longer-lasting positive effect was found in a blended intervention compared with its face-to-face version in another study 54. These results underline the possible benefits of online interventions over the conventional face-to-face approaches: online interventions are shorter, need no presence of the professionals/trainers, and they have particular potential for the workplace as they can be tailored to participant or workplace needs (ie, can be used anytime during the day), which may also have favourable cost implications.…”

A Brief Mental Health Literacy Intervention for Saudi Health Profession Students: Warning Signs of Mental Illness

“…Similarly, a randomized controlled trial (RCT) using Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) blended training course with a one, and two-year follow-up revealed signi cant improvement in knowledge, intentions to help persons with mental illness, and beliefs (34). One interpretation of these results might be the use of mental health rst aid training which provide a comprehensive package including knowledge, available mental health treatment and resources, attitudes and social distance, and intention to help individuals with mental illness.…”