scholarly journals Personal attributes and competencies required by community health workers for a role in integrated mental health care for perinatal depression: voices of primary health care stakeholders from Surabaya, Indonesia

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Endang R. Surjaningrum ◽  
Anthony F. Jorm ◽  
Harry Minas ◽  
Ritsuko Kakuma
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Primary Health Care ◽  
Mental Health Care ◽  
Community Health ◽  
Perinatal Depression ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Personal Attributes ◽  
Primary Health ◽  
Integrated Mental Health

scholarly journals Primary Health Worker's Perception on the Need of Integrating Mental Health in Primary Health Care Settings of Kaski District

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 48-52
Author(s):  
Arati Poudel ◽  
Bimala Bhatta
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Primary Health Care ◽  
Mental Health Care ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Care Level ◽  
Health Care Settings ◽  
Primary Health ◽  
Mental Health Integration ◽  
Primary Health Care Settings

Introduction: The most effective way to close the treatment gap is to integrate mental health services with primary care to ensure that people receive mental health care they need in their place. Understanding providers' perceptions of evidence-based intervention have an undeniable role in improving their dissemination, implementation, and sustained use. Methods: This study was carried out to assess primary health workers' perception of the need of integrating mental health in primary health care settings in which 200 health workers from all the PHC, HP and UHC of the Kaski district were given a self-administered Likert scale having 5 points to assess the perception of health workers on need of integrating mental health in primary health care settings. The median score of Likert scale of perception of need was calculated then the chi square test was done to find the association which was followed by calculating adjusted odds ratio using binary logistic regression analysis. Results: Health workers who had gained information on mental health from course of study are 2.316 [CI:1.124-4.770] times more likely to perceive need of mental health integration into the primary health care setting and those who have provided mental health service are 2.801 [CI: 1.495-5.249] times more likely to be positive towards need. Conclusions: The majority of the health workers working at the primary health care level at Kaski district are positive towards mental health integration with the high number of health workers interested in receiving mental health training thus they should be provided with basic training in mental health to enhance their knowledge and skills for being able to provide mental health care to patients seeking help at the primary health care level.

Disaster Management in Rural and Remote Primary Health Care: A Scoping Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 362-369
Author(s):  
Katie A. Willson ◽  
Gerard J. FitzGerald ◽  
David Lim
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Primary Health Care ◽  
Mental Health Care ◽  
Disaster Management ◽  
Scoping Review ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Disaster Preparedness ◽  
Rural And Remote ◽  
Primary Health

AbstractObjective:This scoping review aims to map the roles of rural and remote primary health care professionals (PHCPs) during disasters.Introduction:Disasters can have catastrophic impacts on society and are broadly classified into natural events, man-made incidents, or a mixture of both. The PHCPs working in rural and remote communities face additional challenges when dealing with disasters and have significant roles during the Prevention, Preparedness, Response, and Recovery (PPRR) stages of disaster management.Methods:A Johanna Briggs Institute (JBI) scoping review methodology was utilized, and the search was conducted over seven electronic databases according to a priori protocol.Results:Forty-one papers were included and sixty-one roles were identified across the four stages of disaster management. The majority of disasters described within the literature were natural events and pandemics. Before a disaster occurs, PHCPs can build individual resilience through education. As recognized and respected leaders within their community, PHCPs are invaluable in assisting with disaster preparedness through being involved in organizations’ planning policies and contributing to natural disaster and pandemic surveillance. Key roles during the response stage include accommodating patient surge, triage, maintaining the health of the remaining population, instituting infection control, and ensuring a team-based approach to mental health care during the disaster. In the aftermath and recovery stage, rural and remote PHCPs provide long-term follow up, assisting patients in accessing post-disaster support including delivery of mental health care.Conclusion:Rural and remote PHCPs play significant roles within their community throughout the continuum of disaster management. As a consequence of their flexible scope of practice, PHCPs are well-placed to be involved during all stages of disaster, from building of community resilience and contributing to early alert of pandemics, to participating in the direct response when a disaster occurs and leading the way to recovery.

scholarly journals Integrating Mental Health Services into the Primary Health Care System: The Need for Reform in Iran

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmad Hajebi ◽  
Vandad Sharifi ◽  
Maryam Abbasinejad ◽  
Ali Asadi ◽  
Nahid Jafari ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Primary Health Care ◽  
Mental Health Services ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Financial Resources ◽  
Primary Health Care System ◽  
Primary Health ◽  
Integrated Mental Health

Objective: The main objective of this study was to review aspects of the current situation and structure of the integrated mental health care services for planning a reform. Aspects of the newly designed infrastructure, along with specification of duties of the various human resources, and its relation with Iran’s Comprehensive Mental and Social Health Services (the SERAJ Program), will also be presented Method: This is a study on service design and three methods of literature review, deep interview with stakeholders, and focused group discussions. In the literature review, national and international official documents, including official reports of the World Health Organization (WHO) and consultant field visits, were reviewed. Deep semi-structured interviews with 9 stakeholders were performed and results were gathered and categorized into 3 main questions were analyzed using the responsibility and effectiveness matrix method. The Final results were discussed with experts, during which the main five-domain questions were asked and the experts’ opinions were observed. Results: In this study, the main gaps of the public mental health care (PHC) services in Iran were identified, which included reduction of risk factors for mental disorders, training the general population, early recognition and treatment of patients with mental disorders, educating patients and their families, and rehabilitation services. The new model was then proposed to fill these gaps focusing on increasing access, continuity of care, coordination in service delivery, and comprehensiveness of care. A mental health worker was placed besides general healthcare workers and general practitioners (GPs). Services were prioritized and the master flowchart for mental health service delivery was designed. Conclusion: A reform was indeed necessary in the integrated mental health services in Iran, but regarding the infrastructure needed for this reform, including human and financial resources, support of the senior authorities of the Ministry of Health (MOH) is necessary for the continuity and enhancement of services. In this model, attention has been given to the principles of integrating mental health services into primary health care. Current experience shows that the primary health care system has been facing many executive challenges, and mental health services are not exclusion to this issue. Monitoring and evaluation of this model of service and efforts for maintaining sustainable financial resources is recommended to make a reform in this system and to stabilize it.

scholarly journals Mental health in primary health care: professionals’ perceptions and patients’ levels of depression, anxiety and stress

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tatiana Varela Madureira ◽  
Maria Cristina Quintas Antunes
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Primary Health Care ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Mental Health Care ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Anxiety And Depression ◽  
Self Administration ◽  
Primary Health

Background: The integration of mental health in primary health care, throughout its various functional units and with effective articulation between primary health care and mental health services, has been considered an essential objective of the legislative documents produced in the last three decades in Portugal, among them the National Health Plan 2011-2016.Goals: This study aimed to inquire health professionals’ perceptions about mental health care provided by public primary health care units, namely their perceptions about the mental health of their patients. It also intended to explore the difficulties perceived by the health professionals in their daily activity about the mental health problems of their patients and about the need of clinical psychologists’ activity in the public primary health care.Methods: This is an observational cross-sectional study with two non-probabilistic samples: health professionals (doctors, nurses and psychologists) and patients from two public health care units. Health professionals were interviewed (individual structured face-to-face interviews) about their perceptions of needs for improving their capacity to provide mental healthcare and about patients’ mental health conditions. Patients responded (by self-administration) to the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21), providing a characterization of patients’ stress, anxiety and symptoms of depression.Results: Health professionals in their daily practice often identify in their patients symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression (most particularly in adults),. Several issues were identified as problematic, such as: poor access of the referral system for psychiatric and clinical psychological specialized care, insufficient number of health professionals, particularly of psychologists, and lack of appropriate mental health care specialization. The results also revealed relevant levels of stress, anxiety and depression in primary health care patients (both genders), which seem to increase with age. Discussion: Difficulties identified by health professionals may relate to the centralisation of resources, resistance to change from human resources management, lack of consensus among the various decision groups linked to mental health and, at institutional level, insufficient and inadequate funding. These factors may contribute to a failure in early diagnosis of symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress. It is expected that articulation between primary health services and differentiated health services will improve, with improvement in teamwork among professionals and increase of the quality of life of users, satisfaction with work, from health professionals,  and reduction of health costs.

Authors’ Commentary: Domestic Violence Against Women, Public Policies and Community Health Workers in Brazilian Primary Health Care

2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 237-239
Author(s):  
Marcos Signorelli ◽  
Angela Taft ◽  
Pedro Paulo Gomes Pereira
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Domestic Violence ◽  
Primary Health Care ◽  
Community Health ◽  
Community Health Workers ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Family Health ◽  
Further Education ◽  
Primary Health

In this commentary paper, we highlight the key role that community health workers and family health professionals can perform for the identification and care for women experiencing domestic violence in communities. These workers are part of the primary health-care strategy in the Brazilian public health system, who are available in every municipalities and neighborhoods of the country. Based on our ethnographic research, we argue that identification and care of abused women by these workers and professionals follow a pattern which we described and named “the Chinese whispers model.” We also point gaps in training these workers to deal with complex issues, such as domestic violence, arguing for the need of formal qualification for both community health workers and family health professionals by, for example, incorporating such themes into curricula, further education, and continuing professional development.

Expanding the Role of Primary Health Care in the Provision of Mental Health Services to the Population of the Kyrgyz Republic

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. S606-S606
Author(s):  
T. Galako
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Primary Health Care ◽  
Mental Health Services ◽  
Mental Disorders ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Mental Health Care ◽  
Kyrgyz Republic ◽  
Family Doctors ◽  
Primary Health

Providing comprehensive, integrated services in the field of mental health in primary health care (PHC) is a component of the state mental health program for the population of the Kyrgyz republic (KR) in the 2017–2030 biennium. In order to develop an action plan in this area a situational analysis of resources of psychiatric care at PHC level was carried out. There was revealed a significant deficit of specialists, such as family doctors, mental health care professionals. In spite of the need for 3,300 family doctors, only 1706 work, and 80% of them are of retirement age.The results of a research showed a low level of knowledge and skills of family physicians for the early detection of mental disorders and provision of appropriate medical care. There are also a limited number of psychiatrists, especially in rural regions (77% of the required quantity).During recent years, there have been implemented significant changes in the system of mental health services, aimed at improving its quality, the approach to the place of residence of the patient and the prevalence of psychosocial services.Since 2016 in 8 southern regions in the Kyrgyz Republic has been introduced a new model for the provision of comprehensive health care services. Piloting this model involves psychosocial rehabilitation of patients with mental disorders, the help of mobile teams at the place of patient residence, as well as psychoeducation, training, and support to family doctors. These and other measures will help to optimise mental health care at PHC level.Disclosure of interestThe author has not supplied his/her declaration of competing interest.

Access of the LGBTQI+ population from the perspective of community health agents, Brazil

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
M H N Souza ◽  
A A Pinho ◽  
L Graever ◽  
A R Pereira ◽  
A M S Santana ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Primary Health Care ◽  
Community Health ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Comprehensive Health Care ◽  
Care Network ◽  
Primary Health ◽  
Comprehensive Health

Abstract Introduction In Brazil, according to the National Policy for Integral Health for Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Transvestites, Transsexuals, Queers, Intersexuals and other identities (LGBTQI+), it is increasingly necessary to guarantee access to the health system, as well as to train qualified professionals. Objective describing the perception of Community Health Agents (CHA) about the approach to and access of LGBTQI+ people to primary health care. Methods Quantitative research conducted in October 2019 with 60 community health workers from the municipality of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The research was approved by the Ethics and Research Committees of the participating institutions. Results it was found that 100% of the CHA have already supported LGBTQI+ people, 19.2% identify prejudiced attitudes and delay in service as barriers to accessing the unit, and 19.2% recognize the presence of group activities in the unit. In the view of the CHA interviewed, LGBTQI+ patients could be approached in groups (50%), individually (19.2%) or both (30.8%). Among the strategies to increase the access of those patients, 61.5% are unaware and 38.5% listed possible strategies to be implemented in the unit. The topics of interest for discussion were: approach to reception, sexual identity, prejudice, psychological support, family, diseases, violence, and rights. Conclusions From the perspective of community health agents, the study allowed reflections on how approaching and making access available to LGBTQI+ patients in the primary care network. This evidences stigmas and fragility of professionals in the individual and collective approach to deal with issues regarding guidance sexuality and gender identity of the clientele served. It is important to emphasize permanent education actions among professionals, aiming at a comprehensive health care for the LGBTQI+ population. Key messages Welcoming and qualified listening promote comprehensive health care for the LGBTQI+ population. Improvements in the access of the LGBTQI+ population to the primary health care network decrease morbidity and mortality.

What are the roles of community health workers? Looking back at the philosophies of primary health care

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-120
Author(s):  
Marietou Niang
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Primary Health Care ◽  
Community Development ◽  
Health System ◽  
Community Health ◽  
Community Health Workers ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Primary Health ◽  
Looking Back

This commentary discusses the different roles of community health workers (CHWs), their challenges and limitations in a historical perspective of primary health care (PHC). We first try to show that the comprehensive philosophy of PHC promulgated in Alma-Ata proposed the role of CHWs as actors who work in community development. On the other hand, in the 1980s, with the emergence of the selective philosophy of PHC, CHWs’ role was more affiliated with the health system. We conclude our pitch about the balance that can exist between these different roles by suggesting that CHWs can work in continuity with the health system, but they should not be considered as affordable labor. Also, they must be supported in their activities to develop their communities, allowing them to participate effectively in programs and policies that concern them and their community.

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