Abstract
Background: The impact of mental health problems and disorders in Australia is significant. Mental health
problems often start early and disproportionately affect young people. Poor adolescent mental health can predict
educational achievement at school and educational and occupational attainment in adulthood. Many young
people attend higher education and have been found to experience a range of mental health issues. The university
setting therefore presents a unique opportunity to trial interventions to reduce the burden of mental health
problems. Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) aims to train participants to recognise symptoms of mental health
problems and assist an individual who may be experiencing a mental health crisis. Training nursing students in
MHFA may increase mental health literacy and decrease stigma in the student population. This paper presents a
protocol for a trial to examine the efficacy of the MHFA training for students studying nursing at a large university
in Perth, Western Australia.
Methods/Design: This randomised controlled trial will follow the CONSORT guidelines. Participants will be
randomly allocated to the intervention group (receiving a MHFA training course comprising two face to face
6.5 hour sessions run over two days during the intervention period) or a waitlisted control group (not receiving
MHFA training during the study). The source population will be undergraduate nursing students at a large
university located in Perth, Western Australia. Efficacy of the MHFA training will be assessed by following the
intention-to-treat principle and repeated measures analysis.
Discussion: Given the known burden of mental health disorders among student populations, it is important
universities consider effective strategies to address mental health issues. Providing MHFA training to students offers
the advantage of increasing mental health literacy, among the student population. Further, students trained in
MHFA are likely to utilise these skills in the broader community, when they graduate to the workforce. It is
anticipated that this trial will demonstrate the scalability of MHFA in the university environment for pre-service
nurses and that implementation of MHFA courses, with comprehensive evaluation, could yield positive
improvements in the mental health literacy amongst this target group as well as other tertiary student groups.
Trial registration: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12614000861651.
Keywords: University, Nursing students, Australia, Mental health literacy, Prevention and early intervention,
Mental health first aid