Youth Mental Health First Aid for Educators of Immigrant-Origin Youth: A Mixed-Method Evaluation of the Virtual Delivery Approach

Immigrant-origin youth (IOY) are a growing population within the United States with a high risk of mental health challenges as a consequence of unique stressors and risk factors, disparities in access to mental health services, and disproportionate distress associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. This study examined the effectiveness, utility, acceptability, and cultural fit of the virtual Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA) training program for school staff who work with IOY. Educators and school staff working predominantly with IOY (n = 36) attended a standard virtual YMHFA, completed surveys at pretraining, posttraining, and 3-month follow-up, and participated in virtual focus groups at posttraining. Results revealed significant improvements in mental health knowledge (d = .48), confidence to help (d = .70), and attitudes toward mental illness (d = .35) that were sustained at 3-month follow-up. The content and format of the virtual training was highly rated in its utility and acceptability. Qualitative themes related to virtual YMFHA's general utility and acceptability, perceptions of its cultural relevance, and recommendations to improve the cultural relevance of YMHFA were identified. Based on these results, several implications for implementation of YMHFA training in schools, improving the training's cultural relevance for helping IOY in schools, and future directions in research are discussed.