An experimental study exploring the impact of vignette gender on the quality of university students’ mental health first aid for peers with symptoms of depression

Davies, E. Bethan; Wardlaw, John; Morriss, Richard K.; Glazebrook, Cris

Abstract

Background

University students have high rates of depression, and friends are often the most commonly-used source of support for emotional distress in this population. This study aimed to explore students’ ability to provide effective support for their peers with depressive symptoms and the factors influencing the quality of their mental health first aid (MHFA) skills, including students’ gender, course of study, and gender of student experiencing depression.

Methods

Via an online survey, students at two British universities (N = 483) were quasi-randomly allocated to view a video vignette of either a male or female student depicting symptoms of depression. An open-ended question probed MHFA actions they would take to help the vignette character, which were rated using a standardised scoring scheme based on MHFA guidelines.

Results

Students reported low MHFA scores (mean 2.89, out of possible 12). The most commonly reported action was provision of support and information, but only eight (1.6 %) students stated an intention to assess risk of harm. Those studying clinically non-relevant degrees with limited mental health content reported poorer MHFA (p = 

Citation

Davies, E. B., Wardlaw, J., Morriss, R. K., & Glazebrook, C. (2016). An experimental study exploring the impact of vignette gender on the quality of university students’ mental health first aid for peers with symptoms of depression. BMC Public Health, 16, Article 187. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-016-2887-2

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 17, 2016
• Publication Date: Feb 25, 2016
• Deposit Date: Feb 25, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 25, 2016
• Journal: BMC Public Health
• Electronic ISSN: 1471-2458
• Publisher: Springer Verlag
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 16
• Article Number: 187
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-016-2887-2
• Keywords: Mental health literacy, Mental health first aid, Helping behaviours, Depression, University students, Peer support
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/775198
• Publisher URL: http://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-016-2887-2