Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-24-2025

Journal / Book Title

AIMS Public Health

Abstract

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.

DOI

10.3934/publichealth.2025064

Rights

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)

Published 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

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