Supportive actions towards people with mental health problems in the community: A national survey of Australian adults

BACKGROUND: People with mental health problems often report that they are avoided and discriminated against. However, less is known about the occurrence of supportive actions. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence in Australian adults of actions recommended by expert consensus mental health first aid guidelines, as well as actions not recommended. METHODS: probability-based online panel. Participants were asked about actions they intended to take to support a person with a mental health problem or in a mental health crisis. Those who had actually provided support to someone in the past 12 months were asked about what supportive actions they took, while those who had personally had a mental health problem were asked what support they had received. RESULTS: Respondents more frequently reported providing actions that were recommended in mental health first aid guidelines than those not recommended (medians across actions of 88.2% vs 37.8%). However, people who had a mental health problem in the past 12 months reported actually receiving recommended actions less frequently (median across actions of 65.5%). Actions to support a person at suicide risk were particularly in need of improvement, with only 41.8% of suicidal persons being asked about suicidal thoughts. CONCLUSION: The findings show a need to further upskill Australian adults on how best to support people with mental health problems or in a mental health crisis, particularly those at suicide risk.