The impact of a mental health course elective on student pharmacist attitudes

A mental health first aid elective course was developed at a four-year doctor of pharmacy program. The objectives of the course were to de-stigmatize the attitudes of enrolled student pharmacists and provide tools to triage and manage mental health crises. The purpose of this work is to investigate the impact of a newly developed mental health first aid elective course.

Student pharmacists enrolled in a two-credit mental health first aid elective course and electronically completed the Opening Minds Scale for Health Care Providers (OMS-HC) pre-course, post-course, and months post-course to quantitatively measure changes in attitudes around stigma in various domains. Students also submitted a guided reflection post-course to collect self-perceived changes in attitudes. The reflection evaluated the changes in perceptions, confidence, and willingness to practice mental health first aid.

Forty-second and third-year student pharmacists participated and 31 were included in the pre-protocol analysis for pre- and post-course paired comparisons. Improvements in the OMS-HC domains of "disclosure and help-seeking" and "attitudes of health care providers" at post-course were observed. Self-reflections submitted post-course supported the quantitative analysis results of the OMS-HC scores. Improvements were noted in attitudes towards individuals with mental health disorders and in confidence and willingness to initiate conversations on mental health.

The implementation of a mental health first aid elective course positively influenced student pharmacists' attitudes on mental health and improved confidence and willingness to provide mental health related interventions.