Journal
PSYCHIATRY RESEARCH
Volume 240, Issue -, Pages 170-176Publisher
ELSEVIER IRELAND LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2016.04.037
Keywords
Helping behaviours; Helping intentions; Mental health first aid; Mental illness; Mental health literacy
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Funding
- Melbourne School of Population and Global Health's Population Health Investing in Research Students' Training (PHIRST)
- Australian Postgraduate Award from the Australian Federal Government
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Little is known about the relationship between adults' intentions to assist a hypothetical person experiencing a mental illness and their subsequent first aid actions in reality. This study examines whether the quality of respondents' stated first aid intentions predicts the quality of their helping behaviour towards a person they know in real life. A convenience sample of 820 Australian adults completed two surveys six months apart which asked questions about a hypothetical person experiencing depression with suicidal thoughts, and how they had assisted someone with a similar problem in their lives. The quality of helping intentions at baseline predicted the quality of mental health first aid behaviours at follow-up, as did the quality of past behaviours. In particular, people who intended to assess and assist with the crisis situation in the vignette were five times more likely to perform the same action when helping someone they knew. The quality of past intentions and behaviour, and confidence in helping, were the most significant predictors of behaviour at follow-up. These findings suggest that adults' mental health first aid intentions can be used to predict their subsequent behaviours, therefore, educating communities about effective first aid responses may increase future rates of appropriate help. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
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