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AIMS Public Health

2025, Volume 12, Issue 4: 1265-1277. doi: 10.3934/publichealth.2025064
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Research article Special Issues

Mental health first aid certification's impact on Filipino nurses' ability to increase personal help-seeking behaviors, self-awareness of health changes, and improved self-connection

  • 1.
    School of Nursing, William Paterson University, Wayne, NJ, USA
  • 2.
    School of Nursing, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ, USA
  • 3.
    School of Nursing, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ, USA
  • 4.
    Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
  • Published: 24 December 2025
  • Background 

    Post COVID-19, almost 50% of nurses reported severe depression, and over 30% moderate to severe anxiety. Nurses from minority racial and ethnic backgrounds, including Filipino nurses, accounted for more than 54% of COVID-related deaths, despite comprising only 24.1% of the nursing workforce. Filipino nurses, making up only 1% of the U.S. population, comprise 4.5 % of the nursing workforce and face significant barriers to seeking mental health services, including stigma, a sense of shame, and adherence to cultural values that view mental illness as unacceptable.

    Aim 

    To assess the impact of Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) certification among Filipino nurses to increase behaviors of help-seeking, self-care, and self-awareness of health changes.

    Method 

    A quantitative, quasi-experimental pre- and post-survey design was employed.

    Results 

    There was a significant increase in personal help-seeking behaviors, self-awareness of health changes, and self-connection among Filipino nurses (n = 52) post MHFA certification.

    Conclusions 

    MHFA certification for Filipino nurses successfully increased the nurses' ability to seek help, improved awareness of personal health, and improved self-care behaviors.

    Citation: Maria Elena Holguin, Brenda Marshall, Faith Atte, Katherine J. Roberts. Mental health first aid certification's impact on Filipino nurses' ability to increase personal help-seeking behaviors, self-awareness of health changes, and improved self-connection[J]. AIMS Public Health, 2025, 12(4): 1265-1277. doi: 10.3934/publichealth.2025064

    Related Papers:

  • Background 

    Post COVID-19, almost 50% of nurses reported severe depression, and over 30% moderate to severe anxiety. Nurses from minority racial and ethnic backgrounds, including Filipino nurses, accounted for more than 54% of COVID-related deaths, despite comprising only 24.1% of the nursing workforce. Filipino nurses, making up only 1% of the U.S. population, comprise 4.5 % of the nursing workforce and face significant barriers to seeking mental health services, including stigma, a sense of shame, and adherence to cultural values that view mental illness as unacceptable.

    Aim 

    To assess the impact of Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) certification among Filipino nurses to increase behaviors of help-seeking, self-care, and self-awareness of health changes.

    Method 

    A quantitative, quasi-experimental pre- and post-survey design was employed.

    Results 

    There was a significant increase in personal help-seeking behaviors, self-awareness of health changes, and self-connection among Filipino nurses (n = 52) post MHFA certification.

    Conclusions 

    MHFA certification for Filipino nurses successfully increased the nurses' ability to seek help, improved awareness of personal health, and improved self-care behaviors.


    Abbreviations

    MHFA

    Mental Health First Aid

         OMS-HC

    Opening Minds Stigma Scale for Health Care Providers

         SASS-14

    Self-Care Activities Screening Scale

         PTSD

    Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

         IRB

    Institutional Review Board

         SPSS

    Statistical Package for the Social Sciences

         WHO

    World Health Organization
    加载中

    Acknowledgments


    The authors would like to thank the Philippine Nurses Association and the Philippine Nurses Association of New Jersey (PNANJ) for their assistance with participant recruitment. No financial support was received for this research.

    Authors' contributions


    M.E.H. and B.M. conceptualized the study. M.E.H. led participant recruitment, coordinated the Mental Health First Aid trainings, and oversaw study implementation. B.M. and F.A. served as academic advisors on the project, and B.M. contributed to study design, interpretation of findings, and critical review of the manuscript. F.A. contributed to study design, interpretation of findings, and manuscript review. K.J.R. conducted the statistical analyses, including data cleaning and descriptive and inferential analyses, and contributed to the interpretation of the results. All authors contributed to manuscript drafting, reviewed the content, approved the final version, and agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

    Conflict of interest


    The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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  • © 2025 the Author(s), licensee AIMS Press. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)
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