Alyssia Rossetto|Anthony F. Jorm|Nicola Reavley
Quality of helping behaviours of members of the public towards a person with a mental illness: a descriptive analysis of data from an Australian national survey
University of Melbourne|University of Melbourne|University of Melbourne
courses mental health first aid equip members public perform appropriate helping behaviours towards people experiencing mental illness mental health crisis however studies investigating general publics knowledge skills relation assisting person mental illness rare study assesses quality mental health first aid responses members australian public using data national surveyparticipants national survey mental health literacy assigned one six vignettes depression depression suicidal thoughts early schizophrenia chronic schizophrenia social phobia posttraumatic stress disorder asked openended question would help character vignette 6019 respondents also asked helped person real life similar problem responses questions scored using system based action plan developed expert consensus guidelines mental health first aidthe quality responses overall poor participants scoring average 2 12 commonly reported actions questions listening person providing support information encouraging seek appropriate professional help actions assessing assisting crisis rarely mentioned even depression suicidal thoughts vignettethe quality australian publics mental health first aid knowledge skills requires substantial improvement particular attention given helping people recognise anxiety disorders social phobia require professional help improving responses suicidal person