Evaluating the effectiveness of a mental health first aid program for Chinese people in Hong Kong

Studies have found that some of the Chinese people have a low level of mental health literacy and this may result in a longer delay in help-seeking among Chinese when comparing to other cultural groups. Mental Health First Aid Program (MHFA) has been translated into Chinese to promote a better understanding of mental illness among the general public. However, there has been no evaluation study conducted on the effectiveness of this program for Chinese people outside of Australia. This study represents the first attempt to evaluate the MFHA program that has been implementing in Hong Kong and sought to evaluate the effectiveness of MHFA programs in terms of, (a) improving the mental health knowledge of the participants, (b) reducing their level of social stigma and (c) increasing the level of confidence of the participants in offering help to people with mental health problems.;A pretest-posttest-follow-up control group design was adopted where the participants in the experimental group received a standardized 12-hour MHFA course offered by accredited MHFA instructors and the participants in the control group only attended public seminars on stress management or general health issues. All participants filled out a standardized questionnaire in the beginning of the course (pretest), at the end of the course (posttest), and at 6 months after completing the course (follow-up). A total of 138 and 139 participants were recruited in the experimental and comparison groups respectively.;A 3x2 mixed design ANOVA with a within-subjects factor of time and a between-subjects factor of group were conducted to examine the differential change over time of the two groups on the major variables in this study. Results showed that MHFA training was largely effective in improving recognition of mental disorders, reducing negative stigmatizing attitudes, changing beliefs about the helpfulness of treatment and in the perceived confidence in offering help to people with suspected mental health concerns. It was recommended that the HKSAR should provide funding to health and social service organizations for implementing mental health first aid programs in the Hong Kong community. Moreover, more coverage on culturally relevant mental health information should be included in the contents of a MHFA program.