Empowering Adults to Support Youth Mental Health: A Non-Randomized Controlled Trial of Youth Mental Health First Aid Training on Helping Behavior and Mental Health Literacy Outcomes

Hwal Lee

doi:10.56508/mhgcj.v9i1.367

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Empowering Adults to Support Youth Mental Health: A Non-Randomized Controlled Trial of Youth Mental Health First Aid Training on Helping Behavior and Mental Health Literacy Outcomes

Mental Health: Global Challenges

Volume 9 (2026): Issue 1 (January 2026)

By: Hwal Lee

Open Access

|Aug 2026

Abstract

Introduction

Although the positive impact of strong relationships with caring adults on youth mental health is increasingly recognized, adults may not be prepared to provide support. Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA) teaches adults to understand, recognize, and assist youth ages 12–18 who experience mental health and/or substance use challenges, but prior studies identified a need for evaluation of helping behavior outcomes and inclusion of a control group.

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether in-person YMHFA training leads to participants’ use of MHFA skills and increased mental health literacy by comparing YMHFA (intervention) and control (no intervention) groups.

Methodology

Using a quasi-experimental design, mental health literacy was measured using the MHFA Opinions Quiz before and immediately after YMHFA training for the intervention group in two rural New York State counties in the U.S. The control group’s mental health literacy scores and helping behavior outcomes of both groups were measured 1 month after YMHFA training, and intergroup differences in helping behavior and mental health literacy outcomes were compared.

Results

The intervention group participants reported significantly more youth helping behavior than the control group participants (16/17, 94.1% vs 12/18, 66.7%, p = 0.042), but the sample size for this outcome was not adequate. The intervention group participants’ Quiz scores improved significantly post-training vs pre-training (11.4 vs 9.4, p = 0.00001), and their mean post-training Quiz score was significantly higher than the control group (11.4 vs 9.2, p = 0.008, d = 0.8).

Conclusion

The current study supports the effectiveness of YMHFA training in increasing adult participants’ mental health literacy, and thus presents a viable strategy to empower caring adults to support youth mental health. The tentative helping behavior outcomes call for future research with an adequate sample size and outcome measurement at two or more time points.

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