Rural Research

Controlled trial of MHFA with the public in a rural area, 2003

A trial has been carried out with members of the public in a large rural area of New South Wales. This trial was carried out as a partnership between the New South Wales Southern Area Health Service and The Centre for Mental Health Research. In this trial, the catchment area of the Southern Area Health Service was divided into 16 local government areas. Eight of these areas received the course immediately and the other 8 were placed on a waiting list to receive the training later in the year (the controls). There were 753 participants in the trial: 416 of these were in the areas that received the course immediately and 337 were in the control group that was placed on a waiting list to do the course later. People who did the course showed a number of changes relative to the control group:

• Better recognition of disorders from case descriptions of a person with either depression or schizophrenia.
• Less negative attitudes towards people with mental disorders
• More like health professionals in their beliefs about what treatments are likely to be helpful
• Greater confidence in providing help to someone
• More likely to actually provide help to someone

The course did not change the following:

• Number of people with mental disorders that the participant had contact with
• Advising people to seek professional help

As a follow-up to this trial, we are currently doing a qualitative study asking participants about their experiences in providing help after doing the course. We want to find out how many people actually used their skills following the course and whether they had good or bad experiences in doing so.

Download full report of the rural trial from BMC psychiatry 2004, 4:33 here.

Improving mental health capacity in rural communities, 2008

The Centre for Rural and Remote Mental Health in NSW evaluated the effectiveness of the MHFA training in drought-affected rural and remote Australia.

To download the article abstract please click here.

Enhancing mental health knowledge and skills of agents working with farmers, 2009

The Centre for Rural and Remote area Health, University of Southern Queensland, evaluated the effectiveness of the MHFA training for advisory and extension agents, who are a main line of contact for farmers.

To download the article abstract, please click here.