**3. Conclusion**

This study examined the effectiveness of MHFA within the context of its growing popularity post-pandemic, and in particular, within regions without access to professional resources such as South Africa. Participants who had lived experiences of mental illness reported a higher satisfaction with the MHFA training due to their "embodied experiences and their desire to be understood by friends and family. As noted in the literature review, some existing body of work has shown that while MHFA had positive impacts on participants, it was more impactful on high-risk populations. In contrast to previous studies, the sample for the current research included individuals who had been diagnosed with and have experienced a particular mental illness and have lived with the 'stigma' of being misunderstood and misjudged by society (which is further reinforced by other participants who had not experienced mental illness of any kind, noting stigmatization and lack of empathy and support for youth living with mental illness. I believe that the positive feedback from participants is directly related to the emphasis on mindfulness, social capital, self-concept and the management of 'embodied experiences" in the course content.

This study suggests that MHFA plays a significant role in mental wellbeing management, health literacy, and de-stigmatization of mental health. Based on analysis of course content, focused group discussions, and direct observation, I conclude that four factors contributed to the overwhelming satisfaction experienced by participants: (1) the utilization of peer tutors in administering the training; (2) the inclusion of mental models and centering their agency in training content; (3) the availability of peer mentors and a mobile application which makes referral and access to professional intervention easy; and (4) the inclusion of friends and family as accountability partners.

To summarize, MHFA has the potential for positive outcomes when culturally and linguistically adapted. For example, within a global context, Black Africans, young people, females, the LGBT community, and others from marginalized social groups have a higher risk of mental illness, poor access to professional services, and acceptability-related challenges when the services are available; within most capitalist countries, this social group also suffers disproportionately more than others but are less likely to access MHFA, particularly, when such services lack cultural competence [32]. At the same time, while most MHFA training programs target vulnerable populations, some of the programs rarely reach them due to the exclusive focus on medicalization and specialized services [33]. The implication is that they tend to ignore such training [34]. The impact of cultural incompetence in the implementation of MHFA has had a significant effect on vulnerable individuals attempting to access mental health information or education through the public sector in imperialist states. This has implications for health outcomes over a life course.

The present study excluded most predictors of outcomes and changes in attitudes such as gender, age, and other measurable variables. The study also made no attempt at exploring the relationship between most variables and standard deviation. These have implications for future research. Further research is needed to cover these obvious limitations of the present study. In future research endeavors, caution must be applied in utilizing the result of this study to assess racial, gender, or SES-related disparities in

*Exploring the Effectiveness of Mental Health First Aid Program for Young People in South Africa DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.108303*

MHFA effectiveness. Future research should consider the impact and relationship of gender and education on identified outcomes in the current study. Existing patterns from positive MHFA training outcomes in the global north suggest that most MHFA trainees are more likely to be female, employed in care jobs that involve working with people, middle-aged than young, or males, and these measures matter.
