Investigating the Impact of the Mental Health First-Aid Training Course in Danish Employees

April 25, 2015 updated by: Merete Nordentoft, Mental Health Services in the Capital Region, Denmark

Effectiveness of Mental Health First-Aid Training in Denmark. A Randomized Controlled Trial With a Six-Month Follow-Up Supplemented With a Qualitative Study

The purpose of the study is evaluate the effect of the Mental Health First-aid training course on a Danish population of employees.

Study Overview

Status

Unknown

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Background:

Studies show a high and growing prevalence of mental disorders in the population worldwide. 25 % of the general population in Europe will during their lifetime experience symptoms related to a mental disorder. The Mental Health First Aid concept (MHFA) was founded in 2000 in Australia by Kitchener and Jorm, in order to provide the population with mental health first aid skills.

Objective:

The aim of the concept is, through an educational intervention (course), to increase confidence in how to help people suffering from mental health problems. Further, secondary aims are to increase the mental health literacy of the public by increasing knowledge, reduce stigma and initiate more supportive actions leading towards professional help. An investigation of the effect of MHFA offered a Danish population is needed.

Design and Methods:

The design is a randomized controlled superiority trial, in which 500 participants will be allocated to either the intervention group or the control group. The control group will attend the course six months later, hence waiting list design. From fall 2013 to spring 2014 participants will be educated in Mental Health First-aid following a manualized, two days MHFA course. All the participants will answer a questionnaire at base-line and at 6 months follow-up. The questionnaire is a back-translation of the questionnaire used in Australian trials. The trial will be complemented by a qualitative study, in which focus groups will be carried out.

Outcome:

The primary outcome measure is increased confidence in help-giving behavior among the participants. Secondary outcome will be increased knowledge of and improved positive attitudes towards people suffering from a mental health problem.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

538

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Denmark
      • Copenhagen, Denmark, 2400
        • Mental Health Center Copenhagen

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

people, who in their line of work are in contact with many different individuals

Exclusion Criteria:

none

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Training course
12 hour training course in Mental Health First-aid
Other: Mental Health First-aid
2 days training course providing information on severe mental illness, in order to make people able to support in situations of crisis
Other: Waiting list
Waiting list design, hence delayed offering of Mental Health First-aid
Other: Mental Health First-aid
2 days training course providing information on severe mental illness, in order to make people able to support in situations of crisis

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Increased confidence in help-giving behaviour as measured by comparing the intervention group after having attended the training course with the control group. (questionnaire)
Time Frame: 6 months
Continuous outcome measures will be analyzed using generalized linear models and dichotomous outcome measures will be analyzed using binary logistic regression. Data will be analysed using IBM SPSS version 22.
6 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Mental Health Services in the Capital Region, Denmark

Collaborators

TrygFonden, Denmark

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Merete Nordentoft, Prof. Dr.med, Mental Health Centre, in the capital region of Denmark

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

September 1, 2013

Primary Completion (Actual)

January 1, 2015

Study Completion (Anticipated)

June 1, 2015

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

December 8, 2014

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 7, 2015

First Posted (Estimate)

January 8, 2015

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

April 28, 2015

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 25, 2015

Last Verified

April 1, 2015

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • MHFA Evaluation

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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