2018 Volume 2 Article ID: 2018-019
Although the number of suicides in Japan has decreased to less than 30 thousand persons, it is still high among developed countries. Health problems are the most common cause of suicide, and pharmacists who interact closely with patients are required to act as a suicide prevention gatekeeper (GK). We introduced and evaluated Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) as an evidence-based GK training course for 4th year students of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences. MHFA was taught after 2 lectures on mental illness, and a questionnaire survey was performed before and after. The number of respondents was 251 and the collection rate was 100%. Regarding GK, 89.6% answered that they were unaware. The confidence level for pharmacists to be involved in suicide prevention increased significantly from 3.0 (3.0, 3.0) to 4.0 (3.0, 4.0) after the course. As to whether the GK training courses were useful, 93.6% answered “useful” or “somewhat useful”. MHFA is based on evidence. Good and bad examples of intervention are presented on DVDs, and the students can learn skills to people who are in a mental crisis practically by role play. Therefore, this program is considered to be useful for learning.
