Effectiveness of the MHFA programme in a Nordic context: an intervention study among nurse professionals caring for older adults

Aim: This study investigated the effects of the Mental Health First Aid–Elderly (MHFA–E) training programme on nurse professionals’ mental health literacy; that is, confidence in helping and level of knowledge of mental ill health in older adults. Methods: An intervention study was conducted in the Åland Islands with 141 participants at baseline, all employed social and health care professionals in the study region. Surveys measuring perceived confidence in helping and acquired level of knowledge in mental ill health among older persons were administered before, immediately after, and 6 months following the training programme. Descriptive statistics and effect sizes (Cohen’s d) were used to analyse outcome differences within the participants over time. Results: Significant improvements in confidence in helping and level of knowledge were found among the programme participants post intervention compared with baseline. However, a decline was registered at 6 months post intervention compared with immediately after the training programme. The findings highlight that the MHFA–E training programme carries potential in enhancing mental health literacy among nurse professionals. Conclusions: This is one of few studies evaluating the MHFA–E programme. As the results are promising, this programme may provide a feasible intervention to strengthen the mental health literacy among care professionals in caring for older adults. However, as for emergency first aid courses, the results indicate no prolonged effects, suggesting that the studied MHFA–E programme needs to be delivered regularly in order to maintain its effect. More large-scale intervention studies evaluating this MHFA–E programme format in the Nordic context are warranted.