(195) Student Opinions about the Value of Required Mental Health First Aid Training

Objective : To describe student pharmacist reflections about the implementation of Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training in the didactic curriculum at a college of pharmacy.

Methods: MHFA is an eight-hour course that teaches participants to identify, understand, and respond to signs of mental illness and assist individuals experiencing a mental health crisis. In 2022, MHFA training was added as a mandatory component of a required laboratory course series in a Doctor of Pharmacy program. Three months after the training, faculty surveyed students to gather perceptions of the value of the training. Survey items were analyzed using descriptive statistics.

Results: In 2022, 237 students participated in MHFA training and 84% (n=199) of those students responded to the survey. Responding student pharmacists believed the training was valuable to them as a current student (95%) and a future pharmacist (98%). Students also agreed that all student pharmacists should be required to complete MHFA (93%) and so should all pharmacists (95%). Reflecting on the state of their own mental health, students reported concerns about their own mental health (51%) and the mental health of someone they knew (64%). Some students also reported reaching out to someone they knew to talk about mental health resources (42%), seeking help for their own mental health (28%), and talking about suicide (19%).

Conclusions: MHFA training was successfully implemented within the didactic curriculum in a Doctor of Pharmacy program. Similar programs could be implemented at other pharmacy programs nationwide to offer students training on caring for the mental health of themselves, patients, and their community.