(240) Mental Health First Aid training: Effects on mental health literacy and wellbeing in pharmacy students

Objective : Mental health problems contribute to disease burden worldwide. Poor mental health literacy has been associated with higher rates of mental health problems and increased mental health literacy can help to develop skills necessary for wellbeing. Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) is an evidence-based intervention designed to increase mental health literacy, and therefore can potentially improve mental wellbeing. This study aims to evaluate the degree to which MHFA training can improve pharmacy students’ mental health literacy and wellbeing.

Methods: Pharmacy students voluntarily elected to participate in the MHFA training program. The Mental Health Literacy Scale (MHLS) and the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS) will be utilized to assess mental health literacy and mental wellbeing, respectively, of the pharmacy students both before and after the completion of the MHFA training program. For the MHLS and WEMWBS, all pre-intervention questionnaire results will be utilized to measure the MHL and wellbeing of the group, but only the participants with completed post-intervention surveys will be used to calculate change.

Results: Forty-five students participated in the pre-MHFA course survey, 35 students attended the 8-hour virtual course, and 19 students completed the post-MHFA course survey. Of the 45 students who completed the pre-course survey, 5 are P1s, 23 are P2s, and 17 are P3s. Of the 19 who completed the course and both surveys, 1 is a P1, 11 are P2s, and 7 are P3s. The MHLS pre-intervention median score was 122 (98-144), and post-intervention median score was 132 (99-150) with a p-value of 0.01. The WEMWBS pre-intervention median was 49, and the post-intervention median was 52 (p < 0.017).

Conclusions: The MHFA training improved both mental health literacy and wellbeing in pharmacy students.