Speaker
Description
Authors: Karine Le Roch (Action contre la Faim), Anna Garriott (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health), Clara Bigel (Action Against Hunger), Florence Boffa Washington Beyslow (Action Against Hunger), Myrthe van den Broek (War Child Holland), Sehwah Sonkarlay (LiCORMH), Sofia Rodriguez (Action Against Hunger), Xuan Phan (Action contre la Faim)
Background: In Liberia, the Ministry of Health and mental health stakeholders are currently joining efforts to promote the mental health in the population and to increase the use of mental health services among children, adolescents and adults. In order to support active case findings and encourage community-based referrals, this study assessed the adaptation and acceptability of community-based detection tools by trusted community members in Montserrado county.
Methods: A qualitative study including a discussion with experts and focus group discussions (FGD) with community members were used to culturally and contextually adapt two tools: the Community Informant Detection Tool (CIDT) (Jordans et al., 2020) and ReachNow Tool (van den Broek et al., 2023). The adaption process was conducted in four phases: Phase 1) an adaptation workshop to select common signs of severe psychological and social distress and develop case stories; Phase 2) editing of case stories, development of illustrations, and translation of the vignettes; Phase 3) field testing with FGDs conducted in community spaces; and Phase 4) final validation workshop with experts.
Results: During the initial workshop, participants identified common signs of child internalizing and externalizing behaviors, adult depression, psychosis, epilepsy and substance use. For the field testing, 56 individuals in Montserrado county participated in FGDs. Overall, the vignettes were acceptable and had face and content validity. During the final workshop, participants provided feedback on the points recommended to be edited by the FGD participants and validated the vignettes.
Discussion: The adaptation and acceptability of a user-friendly community detection tool is feasible with a rigorous process and the involvement of community members together with mental health experts. As a result of these efforts and collaboration, the Ministry of Health has decided to integrate the use of this tool within the Liberia mental health care system through the curriculum of community health workers.
| Conflict of interest | No conflict of interest |
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