A qualitative evaluation of leadership development workshops for mental health workers from four Pacific Island Countries

Abstract

The strong partnerships developed between NSWIOP and the Ministry of Health in all four countries contributed to the success of the training. Leadership Development Programs are an important aspect of building capacity in the mental health services of Pacific Island Countries.

Evaluation of a Leadership in Mental Health course for Pacific Island Nation delegates

“…Almost all of the course sessions were judged ‘most useful’, as was the opportunity for networking and mutual learning (as noted elsewhere 5 ). Ongoing mentoring was identified as a key need, along with sustained support to enable translation of knowledge into practice.…”

“…One of the authors (EH) was involved in a training program in the 1970s for Micronesian medical officers and health aides through the University of Hawaii. 1 There have been many such initiatives since, including from Australia, 2–5 most of which have had to contend with the sustainability challenges of project funding. This paper presents preliminary findings from an ongoing evaluation of a recent initiative, funded through the Creating Futures 2015 conference (see Editorial).…”

Mental health system development in Asia: Does Australia have a role?

“…Key examples are the WHO Pacific Islands Mental Health Network which is funded by the New Zealand Agency for International Aid (WHO, 2015). The New South Wales Institute for Psychiatry has provided support and projects in the Pacific Region for the past 20 years (Fung and Montague, 2015). One such example is the Leadership Development Programme for mental health workers, recently analysed as a successful programme for enhancing leadership confidence (Fung and Montague, 2015).…”

Strengthening research capacity in the Pacific: an example from the Atoifi Health Research Group, Solomon Islands

“…Reports from two recent mental health capacity building programmes conducted in Solomon Islands and Fiji suggest that sustainability is a challenge when specialist driven approaches are dependent on external donor agencies. 4,5 Given the differences in social, cultural, economic, geographic, spiritual and service contexts across the Pacific, locally appropriate approaches such as the AHRG may need to be considered. Such approaches challenge the orthodox approach of centralized investment to replicate specialist driven approaches of funder nations.…”