Happiness, Underdevelopment, and Mental Health in an Andean Indigenous Community

Background: The health status of indigenous people including Tharu is very poor. Despite several studies on indigenous communities, no previous studies were found about mental illness and its awareness among the Tharu people in Nepal. Objectives: This study aims to find out the awareness of mental illness among adults of the Tharu community. Within the objective the present study specific to identify the level of awareness on mental illness and to identify an association between selected socio-demographic characteristics and level of awareness on mental illness. Method: The study was based on the descriptive cross-sectional design and was conducted in 3, 4, 6, 8, and 15 wards of the Madhyabindu municipality of Nawalpur District as the majority of the Tharu's household are located in these wards. This research administered a structured questionnaire to assess awareness of Tharu adults on mental illness. Data were collected in September and October 2018. The collected data were analyzed by using descriptive statistical methods where the researcher calculated mean, standard deviation, percentage, and frequency. Chi-square test was used for inferential statistics.Result: Our analysis revealed that the socioeconomic status of the Tharu community is based on agriculture. The overall level of awareness of respondents, 35.5 % had adequate awareness of mental illness whereas 34 % had moderate awareness and 30.5 % respondents had inadequate awareness of the mental illness. The level of awareness of mental illness is statistically significant with the age of respondents, gender, marital status, education status, and occupation status. Conclusion: Based on the findings of the study, it concluded that nearly one-third of Tharu adults have an adequate level of awareness regarding mental illness. Further, the awareness level of Tharu adults tends to vary according to age, sex, education, occupation, and marital status.Implication: The findings of this study imply that mental awareness among the indigenous community is still low and the findings of the study could be used by a mental health organization to plan and implement mental health-related awareness programs in an indigenous community.

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Health, mental health, music and music therapy in a Colombian indigenous community from Cota, 2012-2014

Revista de la Facultad de Medicina ◽

10.15446/revfacmed.v65n3.56413 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 65 (3) ◽

pp. 461-465 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Leonardo Alfonso Morales-Hernández ◽

Zulma Consuelo Urrego-Mendoza

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Music Therapy ◽

Indigenous Community ◽

Salud Mental ◽

Estudio De Caso

Introducción. El enfoque intercultural hacia las comunidades nativas americanas requiere el conocimiento de los conceptos y las prácticas que favorecen o perjudican la salud de estas poblaciones desde su propia perspectiva.Objetivo. Comprender el significado de salud y salud mental que circula en las narrativas de la comunidad reetnizada indígena muisca de Cota y el potencial de la musicoterapia comunitaria para promoverlas.Materiales y métodos. Estudio de caso con enfoque cualitativo tipo investigación social de segundo orden. Para la recolección de datos se utilizó cartografía social, entrevistas a profundidad, grupos focales, observación participante y proceso musicoterapéutico.Resultados. La comunidad maneja un concepto de salud diferente al de la sociedad mayoritaria. No hay división entre los conceptos de salud y salud mental. La música está integrada a las actividades comunitarias y de sanación.Conclusiones. La reetnización es una decisión política con implicaciones culturales, organizativas y de salud. Las comunidades reetnizadas no pueden ser equiparadas con la sociedad dominante ni con otros grupos indígenas en cuanto a decisiones en salud. La salud pública requiere un diálogo intercultural que permita el trabajo adecuado con estas comunidades.

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From Digital Mental Health to Digital Social and Emotional Wellbeing: How Indigenous Community-Based Participatory Research Influenced the Australian Government’s Digital Mental Health Agenda

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18189757 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (18) ◽

pp. 9757

Author(s):

James Bennett-Levy ◽

Judy Singer ◽

Darlene Rotumah ◽

Sarah Bernays ◽

David Edwards

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Participatory Research ◽

Indigenous Health ◽

Community Based Participatory Research ◽

Indigenous Community ◽

Emotional Wellbeing ◽

Community Based ◽

Community Partners ◽

Social And Emotional ◽

Social And Emotional Wellbeing

This paper describes the first six years of a government-initiated project to train Indigenous health professionals in digital mental health (d-MH). It illustrates how community-based participatory research (CBPR) methods were used to enable this “top-down” project to be transformed into a ‘ground-up’ community-guided process; and how, in turn, the guidance from the local Indigenous community partners went on to influence the national government’s d-MH agenda. The CBPR partnership between five community partners and a university rural health department is described, with illustrations of how CBPR harnessed the community’s voice in making the project relevant to their wellbeing needs. The local Indigenous community’s involvement led to a number of unexpected outcomes, which impacted locally and nationally. At an early stage, the conceptual framework of the project was changed from d-MH to the culturally-relevant Indigenous framework of digital social and emotional wellbeing (d-SEWB). This led to a significant expansion of the range and type of digital resources; and to other notable outcomes such as successful advocacy for an Aboriginal-specific online therapy program and for a dedicated “one-stop-shop” d-SEWB website, Wellmob, which was funded by the Australian government in 2019–2021. Some of the implications of this project for future Indigenous CBPR projects are discussed.

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