Observed behaviours and suicide assessment language post-Mental Health First Aid training in Australia and the United States: a mixed methods study using discourse analysis

BMC Medical Education

Research Article

Damianne Brand-Eubanks¹  Anne Kim¹  Jennifer Robinson¹  Rebekah Moles²  Claire O’Reilly²  Jack C. Collins²  William Nguyen²  Sarira El-Den² 

[1] College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Washington State University, Spokane, WA, USA;The University of Sydney School of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW, Australia;

关键词: Assessment;    Discourse analysis;    Mental health;    Mental Health first aid;    Student pharmacist;    Suicide;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12909-022-03920-8

 received in 2022-03-03, accepted in 2022-11-23,  发布年份 2022

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundMental Health First Aid (MHFA) training teaches participants how to respond to mental health crises, including suicide. Little is known about the impact of training on participants’ observed MHFA behaviours. This exploratory study aimed to compare MHFA-trained Australian and US student pharmacists’ performance and suicide assessment language during simulated patient role-play (SPRP) assessments.MethodsStudent pharmacists (n = 265) completed MHFA training and participated (n = 81) in SPRPs with simulated patients (SP) who were people with lived experience of mental illness. Each SPRP was marked by three raters (student, tutor and SP). One-way ANOVA, chi-squared tests and independent samples t-tests were used to compare scores and pass/fail rates, where appropriate. Transcribed audio-recordings of suicide assessments underwent discourse analysis. A chi-squared test was conducted to investigate the differences in how suicide assessment language was coded across six discursive frames (‘confident’/‘timid’, ‘empathetic’/‘apathetic’, and ‘direct’/‘indirect’).ResultsThree raters assessed 81 SPRPs, resulting in quantitative analysis of 243 rubrics. There were no significant differences between student pharmacists’ mean scores and pass/fail rates across countries. Overall, both cohorts across Australia and the US performed better during the mania scenario, with a low failure rate of 13.9 and 19.0%, respectively. Most students in both countries passed their SPRP assessment; however, 27.8% did not assess for suicide or used indirect language during suicide assessment, despite completing MHFA training. Australian student pharmacists demonstrated, more direct language (76.9% versus 67.9%) and empathy (42.3% versus 32.1%) but less confidence (57.7% versus 60.7%) compared to US student pharmacists, during their suicide assessment; however, these differences were not statistically significant.ConclusionsFindings indicate most MHFA-trained student pharmacists from Australia and the US can provide MHFA during SPRPs, as well as assess for suicide directly, empathetically and confidently. This exploratory study demonstrates the importance of practicing skills post-training and the need for further research exploring participants’ hesitance to assess for suicide, despite training completion.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s) 2022

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