Community mental health initiatives in Pakistan

Ali, Gulnar; Lalani, Nasreen; Charania, Nadia A.

doi:10.7748/ns.29.22.44.e9250

Cited by 6 publications

(9 citation statements)

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“…Barriers in accessing mental health help identified by most of the research include stigmatizing beliefs [24][25][26][27], lack of Awareness [28][29][30][31], preference for other sources [28][29][30][31][32] and scarcity of mental health services [13,[33][34][35][36][37]. This review paper is an attempt to fill the gap which is evident in available literature on this topic.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…According to World Health Organization , the number of psychiatrists and psychologists providing mental health services are 520 and 480 respectively whereas mental health social workers are around 600 in Pakistan [33]. During a community-based intervention program conducted in 15 Urban communities in Karachi, 624 inpatients units with 2 bed per one hundred thousand population were found [36]. Despite of having insufficient number of mental health professionals, most of the population will not have a chance to access mental health services within their lifetime.…”

Section: Scarcity Of Mental Health Servicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Perceived Barriers And Facilitators To Access Mental Health Services Among Pakistani Adolescents

Nizam

Ali

2021

biosight

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Introduction: Mental health problems have a high rate of prevalence among adolescents in Pakistan, however, the tendency to access mental health professionals for the treatment has been low due to some barriers. The current review focuses on those barriers and identifies the relevant facilitators in reducing the barriers to enhance the well-being of adolescents. Methodology: By considering the objective of the study, the adolescents whose age ranged between 10-19 years were included, the research work done during 2012-2018 was accessed through Pub Med, Science Direct, Google Scholar and SAGE articles. The key terms mental health services, adolescents, barriers, facilitators were used to locate the articles. Result: Most prevailing barriers were found as stigmatizing belief, lack of awareness, preference for other sources and scarcity of mental health services. Social support from significant others, finding an expression for the problems, customized mental health advertisements, increased awareness about mental health and providing online services for mental health problems can facilitate for reducing reluctance in adolescents for accessing mental health help services. Discussion: Mental health awareness programs can facilitate in reducing the above-mentioned barriers. This review can make it easier to lower down the perceived barriers among adolescents which consequently encourage them to seek help they require. Recommendations for future research are further discussed.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Scarcity Of Mental Health Servicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceived Barriers And Facilitators To Access Mental Health Services Among Pakistani Adolescents

Nizam

Ali

2021

biosight

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“…About community based psychiatric units, Ali, Lalani, and Charania (2015) state that there are only 624 inpatients units which provide a total of 1.926 beds per 100,000 population. Tharani, Farooq, and Naveed (2012) estimate that there are around 600 mental health social workers in Pakistan.…”

Section: Mental Health Service Delivery In Pakistanmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There are ongoing difficulties in providing good community mental health services in Pakistan due to the problems of low budget for health care; scarcity of mental health practitioners; stigma attached to psychiatric care; poor mental health facilities; limited awareness of mental health issues; illiteracy; negative concepts of mental illness; reliance on unproven alternative medicine; and low prioritisation of mental health by the government (Ali et al, 2015;Mubbashar, 2003;WHO, 2011).…”

Section: Problem Statementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Community mental health services in Pakistan: Review study from Muslim world 2000-2015

Ali

Gul

2018

Psychol. Community Health

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Aim This study attempted to analyse the potential of two primary sources of mental health service delivery at a grassroots level, religious/faith healers and community/lady health workers, and how they can be effectively used to deliver mental health services in a resource-scarce country like Pakistan. Method A literature review was carried out for relevant studies conducted in Muslim countries between 2000 to 2015 reporting empirical results. Using the inclusion criteria, thirteen studies were selected for the review. Results The presented studies suggest that the main proportion of mental health patients in countries with major Muslim population including Pakistan, visit religious/faith healers first for treatment, however all studies are silent about the outcomes through these healers. The only potential visible outcome of contacting religious/faith healers is the identification of mental health cases. However, community/lady health workers with minimal training appeared to be a beneficial source of mental health service delivery in communities. Conclusion In a resource scarce country like Pakistan, networking with religious/faith healers can be established for effective identification and referral of mental health cases whereas strong and already existing community/lady health workers system can be used as a first level to deliver mental health service at the doorstep.

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“…Glaring gaps are reported in the capacity of primary care physicians to address mental disorders in Pakistan (Naqvi et al 2012 ). There have been sporadic community mental health initiatives to train non-specialist health workers (Ali et al 2015 ). However, the need to strengthen the capacity of primary care staff has already been identified as a priority intervention in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), which has been facing ongoing geo-political conflict for decades (Budosan & Aziz, 2009 ; Shah et al 2014 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Implementing mhGAP training to strengthen existing services for an internally displaced population in Pakistan

et al. 2017

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Background.In 2014, over a million people were internally displaced after the launch of a military operation in North Waziristan, a tribal region on Pakistan's side of the Durand Line. Despite security concerns and restrictions, a collaborative mental health and psychosocial support initiative was undertaken in the district of Bannu. Monthly mental health camps were conducted for a period of 6 months by a multidisciplinary mental health team. The initiative also helped to assess mental health needs and plan training for primary care staff to strengthen existing resources.Methods.As part of this initiative, Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP) training was conducted for physicians and psychosocial staff in the affected district. This marked the first instance of implementing these guidelines in Pakistan following a humanitarian crisis. This paper describes the training process including the adaptation of the mhGAP curriculum, training of trainers, training workshops for primary care staff and an analysis of results of pre- and post-testing of their knowledge about common mental disorders using a 25-item questionnaire.Results.The gaps in knowledge of primary care physicians in recognizing and managing common mental disorders were clearly identified. The mean pre- and post-test scores of the participants were 15.43, 62% (p value 0.000, s.d. 4.05) and 19.48, 78% (p value 0.000, s.d. 3.13) respectively, which showed significant improvement.Conclusions.Despite the challenges of a humanitarian crisis, mhGAP guidelines can be successfully implemented to train primary care physicians in in low- and middle-income countries such as Pakistan. However, the dearth of primary care resources can hinder the complete integration of mental health services into primary healthcare.

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Community mental health initiatives in Pakistan

Abstract: The challenges in identifying, diagnosing and rehabilitating clients with mental health needs in the community in Pakistan is acknowledged, and the benefits of enhanced support for clients and their families provided by community mental health nurses are described.

Cited by 6 publications

References 0 publications

Perceived Barriers And Facilitators To Access Mental Health Services Among Pakistani Adolescents

Perceived Barriers And Facilitators To Access Mental Health Services Among Pakistani Adolescents

Community mental health services in Pakistan: Review study from Muslim world 2000-2015

Implementing mhGAP training to strengthen existing services for an internally displaced population in Pakistan

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