A quality improvement project to assess the effectiveness of Youth Mental Health First Aid Training for school nurses

Youth Mental Health First Aid Training was offered to school nurses across a large community NHS Trust to support school nurses' understanding of children and young people's mental health needs. School nurses' levels of knowledge and confidence were audited pre- and post-training as part of a Quality Improvement Project. The results from this audit demonstrate that that the 2-day training course significantly improved school nurses' understanding of young people's mental health needs in relation to suicidal ideation, self-harming behaviour, psychosis, and common mental health disorders. The findings also demonstrated that the nurses who had completed the training felt more confident in supporting this cohort of children and empowered to use the newly acquired skills as part of their school nursing role.