What factors shape the effectiveness of a leader-focused mental health training?

Leaders demonstrated increased mental health-related knowledge and self-efficacy following participation in the 3-hour Mental Health Awareness Training (MHAT).

• The study used multisource, multiwave data from 83 leaders and their followers (n = 383) from 13 organizations
• The training examined was the Mental Health Awareness Training (MHAT; Dimoff et al., 2016), a 3-hour long leader-focused mental health training
• Leaders were 'more knowledgeable of and felt more confident to promote mental health in the workplace following MHAT'
• The study drew on resource allocation theory to examine factors influencing training-induced changes

Leaders' learning goal orientation (LGO) predicted increases in MH-related self-efficacy but not in MH-related knowledge following MHAT.

• LGO was examined as a predictor of training-induced changes in both MH-related knowledge and self-efficacy
• LGO significantly predicted changes in MH-related self-efficacy
• LGO did not predict changes in MH-related knowledge
• The study used a multiwave design to assess pre- to post-training changes

Organizational climate of MH openness positively moderated the relationship between leader LGO and changes in MH-related self-efficacy.

• The relationship between LGO and self-efficacy changes was 'positively moderated by organizational climate of MH openness'
• Organizational climate of MH openness did not moderate the relationship between LGO and changes in MH-related knowledge
• This moderation was tested within the context of resource allocation theory

Leaders' pretraining MH-supportive behaviors did not moderate the relationship between LGO and training-induced changes in either self-efficacy or knowledge.

• Pretraining MH-supportive behaviors were examined as a potential moderator of the LGO-outcome relationships
• The relationship between LGO and self-efficacy changes 'was not moderated by leaders' pretraining MH-supportive behaviors'
• Neither moderator (pretraining MH-supportive behaviors nor organizational climate) had an effect on the relationship between leader LGO and changes in MH-related knowledge

The study applied resource allocation theory as a framework to understand conditions necessary for leader-focused mental health training to be effective.

• Resource allocation theory was used to 'explore the factors that influence training-induced changes in leaders' MH-related knowledge and self-efficacy'
• The study examined both individual-level factors (LGO, pretraining behaviors) and organizational-level factors (climate of MH openness)
• Data were collected from 83 leaders and 383 followers across 13 organizations using a multisource, multiwave design