Mental Health
Loren Bonner
With growing attention on mental health, researchers continue to explore how Mental Health First Aid training influences health care providers, in particular, pharmacists’ attitudes and competency to support individuals facing mental health challenges.
“The role of pharmacists in Mental Health First Aid remains underexplored,” said Rogie Royce Carandang, PhD, from the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. “Pharmacists are among the most accessible health care professionals, yet they often report feeling unprepared to manage mental health crises.”
Royce and colleagues conducted a study, published in the May–June 2025 issue of JAPhA, which demonstrated the strong willingness of pharmacists—both in hospital and in community pharmacy settings—to engage in Mental Health First Aid training and ongoing education. Mental Health First Aid exists as a training program for anyone—health professional or not—to identify when someone is experiencing a mental health issue or crisis and to start the intervention process, which includes referring out to help.
“Many pharmacists acknowledged the importance of mental health support as part of their professional responsibility,” said Carandang. “However, there were also consistent barriers, such as time constraints and stigma, that hindered full integration of [Mental Health First Aid] into pharmacy practice.”
Carandang said one of the more striking findings was the significant improvement in pharmacists’ confidence and skills in engaging with patients about mental health after going through Mental Health First Aid training.
“It was also surprising to find that despite these gains, pharmacists still reported mixed feelings about their preparedness to administer [Mental Health First Aid], highlighting a gap between knowledge acquisition and practical confidence, possibly due to limited hands-on experience or system-ic challenges,” said
Carandang.
He noted that the findings underscore the critical need to integrate Mental Health First Aid training into pharmacy education and professional development.
Study design
The research team searched electronic databases, gray literature, and reference lists for relevant articles. In total, the review included nine articles from 1,258 identified studies, representing diverse study designs and populations.
The lack of meta-analysis was mainly a result of methodological heterogeneity and the limited number of high-quality trials, according to Carandang. “The overall certainty of evidence in our review is low to very low due to the limited number of high-quality randomized controlled trials,” said Carandang.
Most studies included in the research were conducted in high-income countries, which may have limited the generalizability of the findings globally.
“Despite this, the consistency of positive outcomes across diverse study designs and settings strengthens the case for the benefits of [Mental Health First Aid] training in pharmacy practice,” said Carandang.
Advancing uptake
Mental Health First Aid was originally created in Australia and came to the United States in 2008 with help from the National Council for Mental Wellbeing. Through the organization, more than 4 million “first aiders” from all 50 states have received training in Mental Health First Aid.
Many schools of pharmacy are expressing interest or are actively integrating Mental Health First Aid training into their curricula as well, or making it available to student pharmacists at little or no cost.
According to a study published in the August 2023 issue of the American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, Mental Health First Aid training was put in place as a mandatory requirement for all student pharmacists in the didactic portion of a PharmD program. Researchers found that the training led to reduced stigma around mental illness and improved confidence, comfort, and willingness to intervene among student pharmacists. A total of 235 student pharmacists completed the all-day required training program.
“We envision [Mental Health First Aid] training becoming a standard component of pharmacy education and professional licensing,” said Carandang. “Future training should be more tailored to the pharmacy setting—integrating simulation-based learning, regular refreshers, and addressing real-world barriers like time pressure and workflow constraints. Strengthening interprofessional collaborations can also amplify the impact of [Mental Health First Aid] training by creating more integrated and empathetic care networks.” ■