Changes in mental health stigma among healthcare professionals and community representatives in Northern Sri Lanka during an mhGAP intervention study.

PURPOSE: Research indicates that exposure to conflict, natural disasters, and internal displacement can increase mental health conditions. Since the end of the civil conflict within Sri Lanka, the country has worked to increase access to mental health services to meet the needs of conflict-affected populations, however, gaps remain. To address this, integration of mental health services into primary care can reduce the strain on growing specialized care. As part of a larger study primary care practitioners (doctors), public health professionals (nurses, midwives), and community representatives (teachers, social workers) were trained to deliver mental health services in primary care across the heavily impacted Northern Province. The aim was to reduce mental health stigma among enrolled healthcare workers and community representatives by 50%. METHODS: Stigma was measured across all participant groups at six time points: pre- and post- initial training at baseline, pre- and post- refresher training 3-months after initial training, and pre- and post- refresher training 6-months after initial training. RESULTS: Results indicate a small improvement in average stigma scores at the 6-month refresher point for primary care practitioners, and no meaningful difference in average scores across time points for public health professionals or community representatives. CONCLUSION: World Health Organization mhGAP training appears to reduce stigma among primary care practitioners and could be an effective strategy to counteract mental health stigma in low resource settings. Future research should investigate underlying mechanisms of stigma reduction to improve delivery of mental health services in primary care and community settings.

Multidisciplinary team healthcare professionals' perceptions of current and optimal acute rehabilitation, a hip fracture example A UK qualitative interview study informed by the Theoretical Domains Framework.

OBJECTIVE: To understand multidisciplinary team healthcare professionals' perceptions of current and optimal provision of acute rehabilitation, perceived facilitators and barriers to implementation, and their implications for patient recovery, using hip fracture as an example. METHODS: A qualitative design was adopted using semi-structured telephone interviews with 20 members of the acute multidisciplinary healthcare team (occupational therapists, physiotherapists, physicians, nurses) working on orthopaedic wards at 15 different hospitals across the UK. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, anonymised, and then thematically analysed drawing on the Theoretical Domains Framework to enhance our understanding of the findings. RESULTS: We identified four themes: conceptualising a model of rehabilitative practice, which reflected the perceived variability of rehabilitation models, along with facilitators and common patient and organisational barriers for optimal rehabilitation; competing professional and organisational goals, which highlighted the reported incompatibility between organisational goals and person-centred care shaping rehabilitation practices, particularly for more vulnerable patients; engaging teams in collaborative practice, which related to the expressed need to work well with all members of the multidisciplinary team to achieve the same person-centred goals and share rehabilitation practices; and engaging patients and their carers, highlighting the importance of their involvement to achieve a holistic and collaborative approach to rehabilitation in the acute setting. Barriers and facilitators within themes were underpinned by the lack or presence of adequate ways of communicating with patients, carers, and multidisciplinary team members; resources (e.g. equipment, staffing, group classes), and support from people in leadership positions such as management and senior staff. CONCLUSIONS: Cornerstones of optimal acute rehabilitation are effective communication and collaborative practices between the multidisciplinary team, patients and carers. Supportive management and leadership are central to optimise these processes. Organisational constraints are the most commonly perceived barrier to delivering effective rehabilitation in hospital settings, which exacerbate silo working and limited patient engagement.

Challenges and lessons learned in re-filming the WHO mhGAP training videos for Sri Lankan context - a qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: Understanding and addressing the unmet mental health needs burden in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka is the subject of the COMGAP-S two-phase study. Phase Two involves the implementation of the World Health Organization's mental health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP) in primary healthcare settings. As part of the contextual adaptation of mhGAP, eleven of the videos provided in the mhGAP training package have been re-filmed by a local team. We investigated the challenges, barriers and good practices of this adaptation effort from the point of view of team participants. METHODS: Twelve persons from the adaptation team, including students of medicine and drama, doctors, drama lecturers and professionals, consented to in-depth individual interviews following an open-ended topic guide with a member of the COMGAP-S study team. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, translated as necessary, and subjected to thematic analysis. RESULTS: The majority of participants perceived the process positively and had pride in their involvement. Expectations, opportunities, and exposure were discussed as stemming from the video production. The main challenges derived from the analysis were lack of discussion around budgeting, logistical difficulties, struggles with team cooperation, and creative differences. Issues around exact translation into the local Tamil dialect and modelling around mental health were emphasised by the majority of participants. Potential uses for the videos were identified beyond the current study and recommendations included setting out clear guidance around available funding and role allocation, and increasing the flexibility in adapting the material. CONCLUSIONS: This study illustrated details of the adaptation of existing video materials to facilitate locally-based training for non-specialists on mhGAP curricula. With this, we have added to the knowledge base on conducting cultural and language adaptations and our findings indicate participants felt adapting the mhGAP films to local context was vital to ensuring training materials were culturally appropriate and valid. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This project was nested within the larger COMGAP-S clinical trial. Ethics approval was granted from the Ethics Review Committee, Faculty of Medicine, University of Jaffna (J/ERC/17/81/NDR/0170) and the Faculty Research Ethics Panel, Faculty of Medical Science, Anglia Ruskin University (SC/jc/FMSFREP/16/17076). The project is registered with the Sri Lankan Clinical Trial Registry (SLCTR/2018/008) and listed on the ISRCTN registry (trial ID ISRCTN62598070).

Prevalence of multimorbidity in community settings: A systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies.

BACKGROUND: With ageing world populations, multimorbidity (presence of two or more chronic diseases in the same individual) becomes a major concern in public health. Although multimorbidity is associated with age, its prevalence varies. This systematic review aimed to summarise and meta-analyse the prevalence of multimorbidity in high, low- and middle-income countries (HICs and LMICs). METHODS: Studies were identified by searching electronic databases (Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, Global Health, Web of Science and Cochrane Library). The term 'multimorbidity' and its various spellings were used, alongside 'prevalence' or 'epidemiology'. Quality assessment employed the Newcastle-Ottawa scale. Overall and stratified analyses according to multimorbidity operational definitions, HICs/LMICs status, gender and age were performed. A random-effects model for meta-analysis was used. RESULTS: Seventy community-based studies (conducted in 18 HICs and 31 LMICs) were included in the final sample. Sample sizes ranged from 264 to 162,464. The overall pooled prevalence of multimorbidity was 33.1% (95% confidence interval (CI): 30.0-36.3%). There was a considerable difference in the pooled estimates between HICs and LMICs, with prevalence being 37.9% (95% CI: 32.5-43.4%) and 29.7% (26.4-33.0%), respectively. Heterogeneity across studies was high for both overall and stratified analyses (I 2 > 99%). A sensitivity analysis showed that none of the reviewed studies skewed the overall pooled estimates. CONCLUSION: A large proportion of the global population, especially those aged 65+, is affected by multimorbidity. To allow accurate estimations of disease burden, and effective disease management and resources distribution, a standardised operationalisation of multimorbidity is needed.

Acculturation and mental health among adult forced migrants: a meta-narrative systematic review protocol.

BACKGROUND: The global refugee crisis has become central to health and policy debates. There is a growing need to investigate how acculturation impacts mental health among asylum seekers and refugees. Many forced migrants have an increased risk of experiencing negative mental health outcomes, but this review will only assess the current literature on acculturation and mental health among adults. Research questions include the following: (1) How is acculturation conceptualised? (2) What are the most salient mental health outcomes? (3) How are acculturation and mental health measured and related? and (4) How do macrostructural factors affect the relationship between mental health and acculturation? METHODS: We will use a meta-narrative approach to synthesise the breadth of acculturation and mental health literature from various research traditions. This review will include empirical studies measuring variations of acculturation and mental health among adult forced migrants from low- and middle-income countries residing in high-income countries. Studies will be retrieved from the following academic databases: MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, Global Health, ProQuest Social Science and Web of Science. Additional studies will be collected from King's College London's online library databases and e-resources, and reference lists of eligible studies. Studies from database inception and written in English will be included. All full-text papers will undergo quality appraisal using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT). Extracted data will be analysed using a conceptual framework analysis to construct overarching narratives and a framework that will describe the relationship between acculturation and mental health. DISCUSSION: A meta-narrative systematic review provides a flexible and systematic approach to synthesising the heterogeneous literature on acculturation and mental health. This review will guide the development of a conceptual framework to aid future research on acculturation among adult forced migrants. As high-income countries seek to integrate forced migrants into society and improve their access to vital resources, this review has the potential to transform policies and practices that influence migrant mental health. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: PROSPERO CRD42018089148.