Introduction: Mental health is a crucial aspect of overall well-being. Knowledge to help
and support a person dealing with mental health issues is as important as is the knowledge
of first aid for physical injuries.
Purpose: The aim of this thesis is to present the development and usefulness of the program
of the first aid in the field of metal health in the world (Mental health first aid) and Slovenian
program The psychological first aid (Psihološka prva pomoč), to explore the content of the
program and the usage of appropriate tools to gain more skills in helping and to research the
literature and define the effects of the Mental Health program on knowledge, selftrust and
intent to offer help and its impacts on stigmatization.
Methods: Descriptive work method was used that was based on the reviews of scientific
literature in the English language and was found on-line via bibliographic databases such as
EBSCO CHINAL, PubMed, ScienceDirect in Cobiss. Main keywords were in Slovene »prva
pomoč«, »duševno zdravje«, »usposabljanje« and in English »mental health first aid« and
»mental health first aid training«. In addition, an interview with a person that works in the
program Psihološka prva pomoč (Nacionalni inštitut za javno zdravje) was made.
Results: Twelve articles were included in the analysis. Research groups’ interventions
covered different mental health areas including different age and cultural groups. Four
researches included comparative studies. All included persons answered the questions at the
beginning and after the end of the education, some of them answered also after 3, 6, 12 or
24 months. In ten researches, a training effectiveness questionnaire was used. This
questionnaire measured knowledge, self-confidence in offering help guidelines, socially
distanced attitude towards mental illness and the stigma. One questionnaire measured the
knowledge on stigma in mental health and one other measured the feedbacks from suicidal
students where intervention was needed. In all researches demographic data was collected
and the data on satisfaction with the course. Discussion and conclusion: After the reviews
it is concluded that the training of first aid in the field of mental health has a positive effect
on gaining knowledge about mental health problems and emotional distress, on gaining self-confidence in using help and on reducing stigma and on raising seeking help.
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