Providing First Aid to People Experiencing Mental Health Problems: Development of Evidence-Based Guidance Materials for Laypeople

Background: Family and friends are particularly well placed to recognize early signs of mental health problems, provide initial support, and refer to professional help if needed. This project aimed to develop evidence-based guidance materials for laypeople on how to provide help to people experienci...

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Main Author: Emmy De Buck
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Aperio 2023-04-01
Series:International Journal of First Aid Education
Subjects:
Online Access:https://firstaidjournal.org/article/id/2384/
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author Emmy De Buck
author_facet Emmy De Buck
author_sort Emmy De Buck
collection DOAJ
description Background: Family and friends are particularly well placed to recognize early signs of mental health problems, provide initial support, and refer to professional help if needed. This project aimed to develop evidence-based guidance materials for laypeople on how to provide help to people experiencing mental health problems, adapted to the context of Flanders, Belgium. Methods: We performed a systematic literature review for 12 different mental health topics, focusing on communicative support interventions feasible to be performed by laypeople. Systematic literature searches were conducted in MEDLINE, Embase, and PsycNET (October 2018). One reviewer per topic conducted data extraction and methodological quality assessment using the GRADE (Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluations) methodology. The evidence was used to develop a draft manual, which was presented to a multidisciplinary expert panel involving both content experts (n = 10) and mental health peer workers in training (all people with lived experience) (n = 6). Results: Included studies involved 15 experimental and 75 observational studies, leading to 58 evidence conclusions on communicative interventions, risk factors or protective factors, and their relationship to mental health outcomes. The certainty of the evidence was very low for the majority of the evidence conclusions (84.5%), highlighting the need for expert and stakeholder input to inform practical recommendations. Scientific evidence and expert input were used to formulate 33 individual actions on how to provide first aid to people experiencing mental health problems. The recommendations were made available to laypeople via a guidance manual and a mobile application. Conclusions: Input from the scientific literature and the expert panel were essential to obtain evidence-based guidance materials that were meaningful for practice in a Flemish context.
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spelling doaj-art-434ead87653b437b8598c3d569f0fc1e2025-01-31T16:28:23ZengAperioInternational Journal of First Aid Education2514-71532023-04-016110.25894/ijfae.6.1.8Providing First Aid to People Experiencing Mental Health Problems: Development of Evidence-Based Guidance Materials for LaypeopleEmmy De Buck0 Background: Family and friends are particularly well placed to recognize early signs of mental health problems, provide initial support, and refer to professional help if needed. This project aimed to develop evidence-based guidance materials for laypeople on how to provide help to people experiencing mental health problems, adapted to the context of Flanders, Belgium. Methods: We performed a systematic literature review for 12 different mental health topics, focusing on communicative support interventions feasible to be performed by laypeople. Systematic literature searches were conducted in MEDLINE, Embase, and PsycNET (October 2018). One reviewer per topic conducted data extraction and methodological quality assessment using the GRADE (Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluations) methodology. The evidence was used to develop a draft manual, which was presented to a multidisciplinary expert panel involving both content experts (n = 10) and mental health peer workers in training (all people with lived experience) (n = 6). Results: Included studies involved 15 experimental and 75 observational studies, leading to 58 evidence conclusions on communicative interventions, risk factors or protective factors, and their relationship to mental health outcomes. The certainty of the evidence was very low for the majority of the evidence conclusions (84.5%), highlighting the need for expert and stakeholder input to inform practical recommendations. Scientific evidence and expert input were used to formulate 33 individual actions on how to provide first aid to people experiencing mental health problems. The recommendations were made available to laypeople via a guidance manual and a mobile application. Conclusions: Input from the scientific literature and the expert panel were essential to obtain evidence-based guidance materials that were meaningful for practice in a Flemish context.https://firstaidjournal.org/article/id/2384/mental healthEvidence-Based Practicecommunicationlaypeople education
spellingShingle Emmy De Buck
Providing First Aid to People Experiencing Mental Health Problems: Development of Evidence-Based Guidance Materials for Laypeople
International Journal of First Aid Education
mental health
Evidence-Based Practice
communication
laypeople education
title Providing First Aid to People Experiencing Mental Health Problems: Development of Evidence-Based Guidance Materials for Laypeople
title_full Providing First Aid to People Experiencing Mental Health Problems: Development of Evidence-Based Guidance Materials for Laypeople
title_fullStr Providing First Aid to People Experiencing Mental Health Problems: Development of Evidence-Based Guidance Materials for Laypeople
title_full_unstemmed Providing First Aid to People Experiencing Mental Health Problems: Development of Evidence-Based Guidance Materials for Laypeople
title_short Providing First Aid to People Experiencing Mental Health Problems: Development of Evidence-Based Guidance Materials for Laypeople
title_sort providing first aid to people experiencing mental health problems development of evidence based guidance materials for laypeople
topic mental health
Evidence-Based Practice
communication
laypeople education
url https://firstaidjournal.org/article/id/2384/
work_keys_str_mv AT emmydebuck providingfirstaidtopeopleexperiencingmentalhealthproblemsdevelopmentofevidencebasedguidancematerialsforlaypeople