Delivering Mental Health First Aid: an exploration of instructors’ views Kate Byrne, Iain McGowan* and Wendy Cousins School of Nursing, University of Ulster, Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland (Received 20 October 2014; final version received 3 December 2014) Mental health literacy among the general public is poor; many people lack the skills to provide early intervention and suicide prevention strategies. ‘Mental Health First Aid’ (MHFA) is a 12-hour mental health promotion programme offering a tool kit and action plan supporting participants to engage with those experiencing a mental health difficulty. Exploring the MHFA model, this study aims to capture the views of experienced MHFA instructors, sharing their journey of programme delivery in Northern Ireland. A focus group of six instructors participated in a semi-structured recorded meeting, transcripts of which were analysed and key themes identified using a pragmatic approach to schematic content analysis. This study identifies and explores four themes: future roll out, instructor skills, challenges, networks and motivation. Results indicate that complex strategies are employed in delivering MHFA training, while the conclusion calls for the development of a mental health public awareness campaign and continuation of the MHFA programme. Keywords: Mental Health First Aid, health literacy, instructors, early intervention, mental health promotion. Introduction On average about 800,000 people commit suicide every year, 86% of them in low- and middle-income countries. More than half of the people who kill themselves are aged between 15 and 44. Mental disorders are one of the most prominent and treatable causes of suicide. (World Health Organization [WHO], 2012a, 2012b) Despite ongoing public discussions about the need to tackle rising suicide rates and support people who are experiencing mental health difficulties, the picture of how we achieve this is unclear. Economic recessionary impacts threaten many aspects of daily life, with evident implications for our mental well-being and corresponding expectations of increased mental health problems in the future (Institute of Public Health in Ireland, 2011). Although many factors impacting on mental health lie beyond the health sector (societal and economic factors), raising awareness about mental health and providing people with the tools and skills to support people affected by mental health difficulties is an important health sector role. Mental health is defined as ‘a state of well-being in which the individual realises his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community’ (WHO, 1993). The ability to influence, generate and sustain a public health response provides both economic and public health benefits. Mental health literacy (MHL) is defined as the ability to understand and use information in ways that promote and maintain good mental health (Lauber, Nordt, Falcato, & Ro ¨ssler, 2003); according to Jorm et al. (1997), MHL encompasses the knowledge and beliefs about mental disorders which aid in their recognition, management q 2015 The Clifford Beers Foundation *Corresponding author. Email: iw.mcgowan@ulster.ac.uk International Journal of Mental Health Promotion, 2015 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14623730.2014.995422 Downloaded by [Iain McGowan] at 12:38 21 January 2015