Brief Mental Health First Aid Program (bMHFA) for Parents to Improve Mental Health Literacy in Low-Income Families: A Three-Arm Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial

Mental Health Issue Clinical Trial

Official title:

Brief Mental Health First Aid Program (bMHFA) for Parents to Improve Mental Health Literacy in Low-Income Families: A Three-Arm Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Recruiting

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT06148922
• Other study ID #: bMHFA_low income family
• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: September 1, 2021
• Est. completion date: April 30, 2026

Study information

• Verified date: November 2023
• Source: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
• Contact: Ka Wai Katherine Lam, Phd
• Phone: 27666420
• Email: kw-katherine.lam[@]polyu.edu.hk
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

The goal of this Randomized Controlled Trial study is to test the effectiveness of the brief Mental Health First Aid Program (bMHFA) for parents to improve Mental Health Literacy in Low-Income families. The main questions it aims to answer are:

• Does the brief MHFA program improve mental health literacy among parents in low-income families?

• Does the brief MHFA program improve mental well-being among children in low-income families?

Participants will be randomly assigned to two groups, intervention and control group.

• Intervention group: attend a 2-hour training program on brief MHFA

• Intervention group: complete a set of questionnaire

• Intervention group: Interviews will be conducted at 12-month follow up

• Control: no need to attend any workshop

• Control: complete a set of questionnaire

Description:

The traditional MHFA program covers many more mental disorders. Parents in the intervention group will receive a 2-hour workshop delivered by a registered nurse who has a MHFA training certificate from the Mental Health Association of Hong Kong. The first part includes an introduction that defines mental health and identifies mental health crises and symptoms, risk factors, and impacts. The second part of the workshop involves teaching parents the five key ALGEE techniques. The final part of the workshop concerns application of ALGEE in common types of mental disorders, including depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts and behaviors, and substance abuse. Interviews will be held after 12-month of the intervention.

While the other group (control) will just have to complete a set of questionnaire, same set also need to complete by the intervention group.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Recruiting
• Enrollment: 788
• Est. completion date: April 30, 2026
• Est. primary completion date: April 30, 2024
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• aged 18 years or above

• able to speak Cantonese and read Chinese

• parenting at least one child aged 8-13 years

• receiving Comprehensive Social Security Assistance or have a household income less than the half of the median

• Children must be able to speak Cantonese and read Chinese

Exclusion Criteria:

• Parents and children with identified cognitive, behavioral, or mental problems will be excluded

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Mental Health Issue

Intervention

Other:
• Brief Mental Health First Aid Workshop
a 2-hour workshop delivered by a registered nurse with a MHFA training certificate
• Semi-structured interviews
One-to-one, face-to-face semi-structured interviews will be conducted by a research assistant. The duration would be around 30 minutes.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Hong Kong	The polytechnic university of Hong Kong	Hong Kong

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Hong Kong, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Parents' level of mental health literacy	Chinese version of the mental health literacy scale	12-month follow-up
Secondary	Parents' level of mental health literacy	Chinese version of the mental health literacy scale	1-week and 1-, 3-, and 6- month follow-ups
Secondary	Children's self-esteem	Chinese version of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale	baseline and at the 1-week and 1-, 3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-ups
Secondary	Children's depressive symptoms	Chinese version of the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale for Children	baseline and at the 1-week and 1-, 3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-ups
Secondary	Children's anxiety symptoms	Chinese version of the separation anxiety scale for children	baseline and at the 1-week and 1-, 3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-ups