Evaluating the Adequacy and Potential Use of Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) in Punjabi Communities

Abstract

Mental health first aid (MHFA) is a psycho-educational intervention aimed at promoting mental health and training lay populations to intervene during mental health crises (Mental Health Commission of Canada, no date). Despite its increasing popularity, little research has been conducted into evaluating the adequacy of MHFA with ethno-racialized communities. Peel region, Ontario, is considered an ‘ethnic enclave’ for Canada’s South Asian migrant populations, with a distinctive presence of Punjabi communities (Qadeer, Agrawal and Lovell, 2010). This study critically considers the adequacy of MHFA and its application to Punjabi communities in Peel region. Through an approach based in Critical Race Theory (CRT), this study presents the obstacles and facilitators to MHFA, its perceived adequacy and use with an ultimate view to improving mental health outcomes for Punjabi communities. This study concludes that MHFA is generally perceived as adequate, its applicability is limited in the contexts of research participants.