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An Impact Evaluation Model and Quality Improvement Mechanism for Mental Health Programs in Developin

Abstract: Discusses the rationale for using responsive evaluation in mental health and substance abuse programs. Demonstrates the need to include both standard and local indicators in evaluation studies and how this can be used by all the stakeholders of a program to continue the quality improvement initiatives of any mental health program in a way that incorporates all levels of data and opinions. Presents and actual evaluation proposal and instruments in both Spanish and English. (includes substance abuse & Honduras)

http://www.psychosocial.com/research/impact.html

(Added: Tue Nov 12 2002   Modified: Fri Jun 03 2005   Hits: 248)

Centre for Community Change International

CCCI assists behavioral health systems to improve services for individuals with psychiatric disabilities and substance abuse issues so that they can live successfully in communities through a network of high quality behavioral health services and natural supports, including homes, jobs and friends.

http://www.cccinternational.com/

(Added: Thu Jan 16 2003   Modified: Fri Jun 03 2005   Hits: 170)

Child and Adolescent Mental Health Needs in Developing Countries: Role of NGOs in India

Vikram Patel, M.D., Ph.D.**It is highly unlikely that models of child mental health widely used in the West will be feasible or practical for implementation in developing countries for many reasons. These include the stigma associated with psychiatry, the severe shortage of skilled professionals (in particular, non-medical professionals), the relative lack of a social welfare system and the low status of mental health in public health policy and priorities. Meeting child mental health needs in developing countries will require, above all, the integration of this subject into existing health services. Among the key strategies which will help achieve this goal are the provision of training and expertise on assessment and management of common child mental health problems to the primary child care physician (who is often a pediatrician) and the recognition and support to NGOs which are pioneering innovative child mental health programs in the community.

http://iacapap.ki.se/bulletins/nr11/article09.htm

(Added: Tue Nov 12 2002   Modified: Thu Feb 08 2007   Hits: 252)

Depression a Leading Contributor to Global Burden of Disease

Although mental health is a sensitive topic the world over, the prevalence of mental illness and its consequences can no longer be overlooked. While mental disorders include a range of illnesses (such as anxiety, schizophrenia, and autism), depression is the most common and is pervasive worldwide. Depression is now the fourth-leading cause of the global disease burden and the leading cause of disability worldwide. Depression is particularly problematic in developing countries, where data on the prevalence and scope of the disease as well as the resources to address it are sorely lacking. (Heidi Worley, Population Reference Bureau, June 2006)

http://www.prb.org/Articles/2006/DepressionaLeadingContributortoGlobalBurdenofDisease.aspx

(Added: Thu Aug 10 2006   Modified: Wed Mar 26 2008   Hits: 85)

Free online access to the College journals for developing countries

The Royal College of Psychiatrists has made full-text access to the online version of its three journals - the British Journal of Psychiatry, the Psychiatric Bulletin and Advances in Psychiatric Treatment - free to the developing countries listed below. No registration or activation is required from these countries and the mechanism will allow free online journal access to the vast majority of both institutions and individuals in the chosen countries.

http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/publications/dev_countries.htm

(Added: Tue Nov 12 2002   Modified: Fri Jun 03 2005   Hits: 206)

Gender disparities and mental health

Gender is a critical determinant of mental health and mental illness. The morbidity associated with mental illness has received substantially more attention than the gender specific determinants and mechanisms that promote and protect mental health and foster resilience to stress and adversity...

http://www5.who.int/mental_health/main.cfm?p=0000000022

(Added: Tue Nov 12 2002   Modified: Fri Jun 03 2005   Hits: 195)

International Consortium for Mental Health Policy and Services

An Initiative Supported by the Global Forum for Health Research, and the Governments of Australia, United Kingdom and The United States of America. It is now clear that mental disorders are a major and rising cause of disease burden in all countries. The rise will be particularly steep in developing countries that have the least resources to respond. While there are increasingly effective interventions available to reduce this burden, many countries do not have the policy and planning frameworks in place to identify and deliver these interventions, even when resources are available...

http://www.developmentgateway.com.au/jahia/Jahia/pid/1291

(Added: Tue Nov 12 2002   Modified: Mon Sep 04 2006   Hits: 162)

Mental health - Terms and Definitions

Definitions of mental health terms

http://wbln0018.worldbank.org/HDNet/hddocs.nsf/c840b59b6982d2498525670c004def60/8a294402ac603e2d85256a45006429a3?OpenDocument

(Added: Tue Nov 12 2002   Modified: Fri Jun 03 2005   Hits: 194)

Mental Health Care in the Developing World

by Richard A. Sherer (Psychiatric Times January 2002 Vol. XIX Issue 1) Some 450 million people worldwide currently suffer from some form of mental disease or brain condition, but almost half the countries in the world have no explicit mental health policy and nearly a third have no program for coping with the rising tide of brain-related disabilities. These findings were included in a major report by the World Health Organization (WHO) released in October 2001. The report, titled Mental Health: New Understanding, New Hope, was the culmination of a year-long effort that included devoting World Health Day to the subject of mental illness last April and the publication of a detailed survey of the status of treatment of mental conditions in developing countries...

http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/p020101a.html

(Added: Tue Nov 12 2002   Modified: Fri Jun 03 2005   Hits: 209)

Mental Health Policies in Developing Countries: A Radical Rethink

Vikram Patel*, R Thara**. The year 2001 marks an important milestone in the profile of mental health for governments and international health agencies. This year, mental health is the theme for the World Health Day (April 7) and the World Health Report. The World Health Assembly meeting in May discussed the policy implications of issues pertaining to mental health such as its socioeconomic determinants, gender influences and mental health services. It is fortunate that mental health will be in the global spotlight with such intensity over the coming months. In the past decade, a veritable mountain of research, literature and multilateral reports have demonstrated the rising tide of depression and other mental disorders across the world, and most importantly, in developing countries where the subject has always been the least prioritized in public health. The literature has demonstrated several key findings: mental disorders are common; they tend to occur more often in vulnerable groups such as the poor and traumatized; they are associated with considerable disability; the mentally ill suffer much stigma and discrimination; and while there is abundant evidence of efficacious and even cost-effective treatments for most mental disorders, the overwhelming majority of mentally ill persons do not have access to these treatments. Mental health care is yet to create a niche for itself in the health care delivery systems of many countries.

http://w3.whosea.org/rhf/rh5/policy_mentalhthh.htm

(Added: Tue Nov 12 2002   Modified: Fri Aug 25 2006   Hits: 273)

Project Atlas: Resources for Mental Health and Neurological Disorders

Project Atlas was launched by WHO in 2000 in an attempt to map mental health resources in the world. These data are needed at the country level to assess the current situation and to assist in developing plans and at the regional and global levels to develop an aggregate picture of the available mental health resources and the overall needs.

http://www.who.int/globalatlas/default.asp

(Added: Thu Oct 13 2005   Modified: Mon Feb 12 2007   Hits: 97)

Psychological reactions to catastrophe

Terrorist attacks, situations of armed conflict and all forms of catastrophe tax our abilities to cope, understand and respond. They also have a major impact on the affected person's health and psychosocial functioning. Over the years, there has been a significant amount of interest in the issues of psychosocial responses to these types of events which has taught us a great deal. Importantly, we should acknowledge that most people, whether directly exposed to the event, or a remote observer, are affected by such a tragedy.

http://www5.who.int/mental_health/main.cfm?p=0000000135

(Added: Wed Nov 06 2002   Modified: Fri Jun 03 2005   Hits: 162)

Research in developing countries and cross-cultural comparisons

In many developing countries there is a notable lack of scientific research on mental health epidemiology, services, treatment, prevention and promotion, and policy. Without such research, there is no rational basis to guide advocacy, planning and intervention (Sartorius 1998b, Okasha & Karam 1998). Despite many similarities of mental problems and services across countries, the cultural context in which they occur can differ substantially. Just as programmes need to be culturally informed, so does research. Research tools and methods should not be imported from one country to another without careful analysis of the influence and effect of cultural factors on their reliability and validity.

http://www.who.int/whr2001/2001/main/en/chapter4/004e5.htm

(Added: Tue Nov 12 2002   Modified: Fri Jun 03 2005   Hits: 170)

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Mental Health Centre

United States Department of Health and Human Services. This website features: 15 Plus; Childrens' Mental Health; Consumer Survivor; Dads Are Champs; National Strategy for Suicide Prevention; School Violence Prevention; Discrimination and Stigma; Surgeon General Reports; President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health

http://www.mentalhealth.org/default.asp

(Added: Tue Nov 12 2002   Modified: Fri Jun 03 2005   Hits: 185)

The World Health Report 2001 : Mental Health: New Understanding, New Hope

In devoting The World Health Report to mental health, WHO is making one clear, emphatic statement. Mental health - neglected for far too long - is crucial to the overall well-being of individuals, societies and countries and must be universally regarded in a new light (abstract)

http://www.who.int/whr2001/2001/

(Added: Tue Nov 12 2002   Modified: Fri Jun 03 2005   Hits: 175)

Therapeutic Governance: Psychosocial Intervention and Trauma Risk Management

Paper presented by Vanessa Pupavac to the Politics and Humanitarian Aid: Debates, Dilemmas and Dissension Panel: Governing the Borderlands, 1 February 2001. "Although psychosocial intervention has become a key component of international policy, there is much confusion over its meaning among aid agencies and the concept is undertheorised in academia. This paper critically examines the significance of psychosocial intervention as a new form of international governance based on social risk management. Firstly the paper outlines the psychosocial model and the efficacy of psychosocial intervention for promoting rehabilitation and conflict resolution. Secondly the paper considers the political and social implications of the psychosocial model, highlighting how although the psychosocial approach self-consciously aims at promoting capacity, it entails extensive international intervention encompassing intimate relations with far-reaching consequences for the autonomy of individuals and communities."

http://www.odi.org.uk/hpg/confpapers/pupavac.pdf

(Added: Wed Nov 27 2002   Modified: Fri Jun 03 2005   Hits: 247)

WHO Report Reviews World Mental Health Care

There is little evidence one way or the other for the effectiveness of treating either common or severe mental disorders in primary care settings in developing countries, according to a new report from the World Health Organization (World Health Report 2001)

http://www.researchmatters.harvard.edu/story.php?article_id=321

(Added: Tue Nov 12 2002   Modified: Tue Oct 17 2006   Hits: 252)