A mobile clinic approach to the delivery of community-based mental health services in rural Haiti

Geospatial analysis and scale-up modelling of the impact of mobile programming on access to essential childhood vaccinations in Yemen

BACKGROUND

Childhood vaccination rates in Yemen remain alarmingly low, and recent political developments have restricted vaccine delivery. Understanding population access to vaccinations through existing delivery modalities, including fixed and mobile services, is critical to inform strategies to improve access, increase coverage, and prevent outbreaks.

METHODS

We developed a geospatial model of national and subnational vaccination access via fixed health facilities and mobile health teams, using newly developed datasets accounting for conflict-related effects. We calculated travel times to fixed health facilities and mobile sites offering immunizations and estimated the number and percentage of the under-5 population with access to vaccines. We also conducted a scale-up model to identify and prioritize locations where additional mobile teams would most improve vaccination access.

RESULTS

We estimate that in 2023, 66.3% (3.57 million) of the Yemeni under-5 population lived within a 30-minute walk of a health facility or mobile site offering vaccinations, compared to 56.5% living within a 30-minute walk of a health facility alone. Even with mobile contributions, we find substantial regional variation; in 13 of 22 governorates, more than one-third of children cannot access a vaccination site within 30 min. In our scale-up analysis, we identify optimal locations for 300 new mobile sites that would increase access by an additional 7.2% of the population.

CONCLUSIONS

Using mobile teams improves geographic access to vaccinations in Yemen; however, significant access gaps will remain even with dedicated scale-up efforts. Geospatial modelling offers a rigorous approach to evaluating the impact of different service delivery methods in conflict settings and can help optimize targeting strategies.

Smoking, betel quid chewing, and alcohol use among an indigenous primitive Tribal group in the Kerala State of India: Secondary analysis of a Tribal household survey

Background: In India, indigenous populations, known as Tribes, are among the poorest and most marginalized groups. We estimated the prevalence of smoking, alcohol use, and betel quid chewing and examined the association between gender and smoking, alcohol use, and betel quid chewing among Kattunayakan primitive Tribes who are categorized as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) in the Kerala State of India.Methods: A secondary analysis of a sample of the Wayanad District Tribal Household survey comprising 388 Kattunayakan PVTG households selected through multistage cluster random sampling was undertaken. Binary logistic regression models were used to estimate an association between gender and smoking, alcohol use, and betel quid chewing in these Tribal households.Results: Mean age was 39.2 years (±15.1), more than three-fourths of the respondents were female (75.3%), and approximately 24% of the respondents reported smoking tobacco in past 12 months. A fivefold increased odds of smoking among males compared to smoking among females was observed (OR = 4.92; p < .01). More than 64% reported betel quid chewing. Prevalence of alcohol use was 16%, which significantly varied between males (49%) and females (5.1%; OR = 17.71; p < .01). Among tobacco smokers, 64.1% were involved in betel quid use. Among alcohol users, 62.9% were involved in betel quid use and more than 58% were smoking tobacco. Betel quid chewing was the most prevalent substance use.Conclusion: Single and dual substance use of the three commonest types were disproportionately high among this hard-to-reach Tribal population in the southern state of India, with some gender variations. Alcohol consumption was relatively low. However, the complex nature of substance use, compounded by inaccessible health services, poses a significant challenge to rethink and to reimagine innovative methods of providing mental health care services, for instance, mobile health clinics.

Psychosocial predictors of adolescent depression and mental health referral in an urban mobile medical unit programme

Introduction: Given worsening youth mental health over the past years, mobile medical units are a potential avenue to increase access to mental healthcare services.Methods: This 1-year retrospective study examined a self-administered psychosocial assessment, and referrals made to mental health services for adolescent patients served by a mobile medical unit. We extracted psychosocial assessment responses, Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) scores, and mental health referral information for patients seen by the mobile medical unit in 2022 and examined rates and predictors of depression and referral to mental health services.Results: Of the 326 patients who completed the psychosocial assessment, one in five had moderate to severe depression symptoms based on PHQ-9 scores. Factors associated with referral to mental healthcare included female gender identity, LGBTQ+ identity, and several factors from the psychosocial assessment. Additionally, 13.8% wanted a mental health referral, and 16.6% were referred to mental healthcare. Patients who desired to see a mental health provider had higher odds of being referred (p < 0.0001). All patients with moderate to severe depression who were not already connected to mental healthcare and wanted a referral were referred.Conclusion: This study documents the impact of a mobile medical unit programme in identifying adolescent patients with mental health needs and referring them to mental healthcare.

Innovation in the Delivery of Behavioral Health Services

Several factors motivate the need for innovation to improve the delivery of behavioral health services, including increased rates of mental health and substance use disorders, limited access to services, inconsistent use of evidence-based practices, and persistent racial and ethnic disparities. This narrative review identifies promising innovations that address these challenges, assesses empirical evidence for the effectiveness of these innovations and the extent to which they have been adopted and implemented, and suggests next steps for research. We review five categories of innovations: organizational models, including a range of novel locations for providing services and new ways of organizing services within and across sites; information and communication technologies; workforce; treatment technologies; and policy and regulatory changes. We conclude by discussing the need to strengthen and accelerate the contributions of implementation science to close the gap between the launch of innovative behavioral health services and their widespread use.

Subjective Experience on Virtual Reality-Assisted Mental Health Promotion Program

OBJECTIVE

Mental health promotion programs using virtual reality (VR) technology have been developed in various forms. This study aimed to investigate the subjective experience of a VR-assisted mental health promotion program for the community population, which was provided in the form of VR experience on a bus to increase accessibility.

METHODS

Ninety-six people participated in this study. The relationship between the subjective experience and mental health states such as depression, anxiety, perceived stress, and quality of life was explored. The subjective experience on depression and stress before and after VR program treatment was compared using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. The satisfaction with the VR-assisted mental health promotion program was examined after using the VR program.

RESULTS

The VR-assisted mental health promotion program on a bus significantly improved subjective symptoms such as depression (p=0.036) and perceived stress (p=0.010) among all the participants. Among the high-risk group, this VR program significantly relieved subjective depressive feeling score (p=0.033), and subjective stressful feeling score (p=0.035). In contrast, there were no significant changes in subjective depressive feelings (p=0.182) and subjective stressful feelings (p=0.058) among the healthy group. Seventy-two percent of the participants reported a high level of satisfaction, scoring 80 points or more.

CONCLUSION

The findings of this study suggest that the VR-assisted mental health promotion program may effectively improve the subjective depressive and stressful feelings. The use of VR programs on buses to increase of accessibility for the community could be a useful approach for promoting mental health among the population.

Community-based models of care for adolescent and adult depression, suicidal behavior, anxiety, trauma, and substance use in Africa: a scoping review

Background

Community-based care (CBC), where care is delivered outside of the traditional health facility setting, has been proposed to narrow the mental health (MH) and substance use (SU) treatment gap in Africa.

Objective

This scoping review aims to comprehensively summarize CBC models addressing adolescent and adult MH (depression, anxiety, trauma, suicidal behavior) and (non-tobacco) SU problems in Africa.

Methods

We searched PsycINFO, Embase, Scopus, CINAHL, and Medline Ovid. Studies and protocols were included if they reported on CBC intervention's effects on MH or SU symptoms/ diagnoses, acceptability, feasibility, or patient engagement in care, regardless of whether the intervention itself was designed specifically for MH or SU.

Results

Among 11,477 screened publications, 217 were eligible. Of the unique intervention studies (n = 206), CBC models were classified into the following approaches (non-mutually exclusive): psychotherapeutic (n = 144), social (n = 81), lifestyle/physical health (n = 55), economic (n = 26), and psychopharmacological (n = 2). While quantitative results suggest possible efficacy of CBC models, description of CBC location was often poor. Fewer interventions addressed suicidal behavior (n = 12), the needs of adolescents (n = 49), or used traditional healers or religious figures as providers (n = 3).

Conclusion

Many CBC models have been tested on MH and SU in Africa and should be critically appraised and meta-analyzed in subsequent reviews, where possible.

Use of mobile medical teams to fill critical gaps in health service delivery in complex humanitarian settings, 2017-2020: a case study of South Sudan

The vulnerable populations in the protracted humanitarian crisis in South Sudan are faced with constrained access to health services and frequent disease outbreaks. Here, we describe the experiences of emergency mobile medical teams (eMMT) assembled by the World Health Organization (WHO) South Sudan to respond to public health emergencies. Interventions: the eMMTs, multidisciplinary teams based at national, state and county levels, are rapidly deployed to conduct rapid assessments, outbreak investigations, and initiate public health response during acute emergencies. The eMMTs were deployed to locations affected by flooding, conflicts, famine, and disease outbreaks. We reviewed records of deployment reports, outreach and campaign registers, and analyzed the key achievements of the eMMTs for 2017 through 2020. Achievements: the eMMTs investigated disease outbreaks including cholera, measles, Rift Valley fever and coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in 13 counties, conducted mobile outreaches in emergency locations in 38 counties (320,988 consultations conducted), trained 550 healthcare workers including rapid response teams, and supported reactive measles vaccination campaigns in seven counties [148,726, (72-125%) under-5-year-old children vaccinated] and reactive oral cholera vaccination campaigns in four counties (355,790 vaccinated). The eMMT is relevant in humanitarian settings and can reduce excess morbidity and mortality and fill gaps that routine health facilities and health partners could not bridge. However, the scope of the services offered needs to be broadened to include mental and psychosocial care and a strategy for ensuring continuity of vaccination services and management of chronic conditions after the mobile outreach is instituted.

Community Psychiatry in Rural Greece: The Role of the Mobile Mental Health Units

Almost a decade ago, an article published in the official journal of the Hellenic Psychiatric Association, concerning the state of Greek mental health reform, referred to the significant shortages of mental health staff and services in rural areas of the country [...]

Barriers and facilitators to implementation of evidence-based task-sharing mental health interventions in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review using implementation science frameworks

BACKGROUND

Task-sharing is a promising strategy to expand mental healthcare in low-resource settings, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Research on how to best implement task-sharing mental health interventions, however, is hampered by an incomplete understanding of the barriers and facilitators to their implementation. This review aims to systematically identify implementation barriers and facilitators in evidence-based task-sharing mental health interventions using an implementation science lens, organizing factors across a novel, integrated implementation science framework.

METHODS

PubMed, PsychINFO, CINAHL, and Embase were used to identify English-language, peer-reviewed studies using search terms for three categories: "mental health," "task-sharing," and "LMIC." Articles were included if they: focused on mental disorders as the main outcome(s); included a task-sharing intervention using or based on an evidence-based practice; were implemented in an LMIC setting; and included assessment or data-supported analysis of barriers and facilitators. An initial conceptual model and coding framework derived from the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research and the Theoretical Domains Framework was developed and iteratively refined to create an integrated conceptual framework, the Barriers and Facilitators in Implementation of Task-Sharing Mental Health Interventions (BeFITS-MH), which specifies 37 constructs across eight domains: (I) client characteristics, (II) provider characteristics, (III) family and community factors, (IV) organizational characteristics, (V) societal factors, (VI) mental health system factors, (VII) intervention characteristics, and (VIII) stigma.

RESULTS

Of the 26,935 articles screened (title and abstract), 192 articles underwent full-text review, yielding 37 articles representing 28 unique intervention studies that met the inclusion criteria. The most prevalent facilitators occur in domains that are more amenable to adaptation (i.e., the intervention and provider characteristics domains), while salient barriers occur in domains that are more challenging to modulate or intervene on-these include constructs in the client characteristics as well as the broader societal and structural levels of influence (i.e., the organizational, mental health system domains). Other notable trends include constructs in the family and community domains occurring as barriers and as facilitators roughly equally, and stigma constructs acting exclusively as barriers.

CONCLUSIONS

Using the BeFITS-MH model we developed based on implementation science frameworks, this systematic review provides a comprehensive identification and organization of barriers and facilitators to evidence-based task-sharing mental health interventions in LMICs. These findings have important implications for ongoing and future implementation of this critically needed intervention strategy, including the promise of leveraging task-sharing intervention characteristics as sites of continued innovation, the importance of but relative lack of engagement with constructs in macro-level domains (e.g., organizational characteristics, stigma), and the need for more delineation of strategies for task-sharing mental health interventions that researchers and implementers can employ to enhance implementation in and across levels.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

PROSPERO CRD42020161357.

Pilot Study to Assess the Feasibility of a Mobile Unit for Remote Cognitive Screening of Isolated Elderly in Rural Areas

Background: Given the current COVID-19 pandemic situation, now more than ever, remote solutions for assessing and monitoring individuals with cognitive impairment are urgently needed. Older adults in particular, living in isolated rural areas or so-called ‘medical deserts’, are facing major difficulties in getting access to diagnosis and care. Telemedical approaches to assessments are promising and seem well accepted, reducing the burden of bringing patients to specialized clinics. However, many older adults are not yet adequately equipped to allow for proper implementation of this technology. A potential solution could be a mobile unit in the form of a van, equipped with the telemedical system which comes to the patients’ home. The aim of this proof-of-concept study is to evaluate the feasibility and reliability of such mobile unit settings for remote cognitive testing. Methods and analysis: eight participants (aged between 69 and 86 years old) from the city of Digne-Les-Bains volunteered for this study. A basic neuropsychological assessment, including a short clinical interview, is administered in two conditions, by telemedicine in a mobile clinic (equipped van) at a participants’ home and face to face in a specialized clinic. The administration procedure order is randomized, and the results are compared with each other. Acceptability and user experience are assessed among participants and clinicians in a qualitative and quantitative manner. Measurements of stress indicators were collected for comparison. Results: The analysis revealed no significant differences in test results between the two administration procedures. Participants were, overall, very satisfied with the mobile clinic experience and found the use of the telemedical system relatively easy. Conclusion: A mobile unit equipped with a telemedical service could represent a solution for remote cognitive testing overcoming barriers in rural areas to access specialized diagnosis and care.

"Eternally restarting" or "a branch line of continuity"? Exploring consequences of external shocks on community health systems in Haiti

Background

Community health systems (CHS) are integral in promoting well-being in humanitarian settings, like Haiti, a country plagued by disruptive socio-political and environmental shocks over the past two decades. Haiti’s community health workers (CHWs) as critical intermediaries have persisted throughout these contextual shocks. This study explores how shocks influence CHS functionality and resilience in Haiti.

Methods

We applied an inductive and deductive qualitative approach to understand the lived experience of CHS actors. A desk review of peer-review and grey literature searched 393 and identified 25 relevant documents on community health policies, guidelines, and strategies implemented over the last fifteen years in Haiti. In-depth interviews with policy and program stakeholders (n = 12), CHWs (n = 24), and CHW supervisors and community health auxiliary nurses (n = 15) were conducted.

Results

Various shocks – political transitions, natural disasters, and disease outbreaks – describe Haiti’s protracted complex humanitarian setting and reveal distinct influences on CHS functionality (challenges and enablers), resilience, and mediating factors (eg, policy, financing, governance, parallel systems). Consequences of civil unrest and lockdowns (political transitions), internal displacement and infrastructural damage (natural disasters), and livelihood depletion and food insecurity (natural disasters and disease outbreaks) affect CHS functioning. CHW resilience is rooted in their generalized scope of work, intrinsic motivation, history in the community, trusting relationships, self-regulatory capacity, and adaptability. Mental health and safety among CHS actors and communities they serve pose challenges to CHS functionality and resilience, while reinforcing collaborations that promote CHW coverage and support and sustain CHS. Participants recommended government support for CHWs, collaborations stewarded by the government and complemented by partners, sub-national autonomy, and integration of disaster preparedness for all CHWs.

Conclusions

Political transitions, natural disasters, and disease outbreaks in Haiti continue to profoundly influence CHS functioning, despite mitigating policy and programming efforts. This study documents the relevance of CHS in maintaining primary health care for a country in protracted crises and suggests that propositions of CHW resilience can be explored in complex humanitarian settings globally.

An exploratory randomised controlled trial evaluating text prompts in Lebanon to encourage health-seeking behaviour for hypertension

AIMS OF THE STUDY

The current study evaluates the effectiveness of an opportunistic mobile screening on the percentage of people who are aware of whether they may be hypertensive (in an observational study) and the effectiveness of reminder prompts on the percentage of people who seek further medical attention (in a randomised controlled trial).

METHODS USED TO CONDUCT THE STUDY

The screening of 1227 participants (529 female) was conducted during the registration period of the 2018 Beirut International Marathon in Lebanon. Next, 266 participants whose screening indicated hypertension (64 Female) were randomly allocated to a treatment group or a control group in a 1:1 fashion. The treatment group received a reminder prompt to seek further medical attention for their potential hypertension and the control group did not. The overt nature of the text message meant that participants in the treatment group could not be blinded to their group allocation. The primary outcome is participants' self-reports of whether they sought further medical attention.

RESULTS OF THE STUDY

For the opportunistic screening, a 25% prevalence rate and a 24% awareness rate of hypertension was indicated. A McNemar analysis suggested that the screening increased participant awareness (X² (N = 1227) = 72.16, P < .001). For the randomised controlled trial, 219 participants provided follow-up data via a phone call (82% retention). A Chi-squared analysis suggested that the reminder prompt successfully encouraged more participants to seek further medical attention, 45.5% treatment group vs 28.0% control group (X² (1, N = 219) = 7.19, P = .007, φ = 0.18).

CONCLUSIONS DRAWN AND CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS

Extra support in the form of a brief reminder message can increase the percentage of people who seek further medical attention after attending an opportunistic screening at a marathon event. The discussion reviews how the results align with previous research, strengths and limitations of the current study, and implications for future research and practice.

Connected Mental Health: Systematic Mapping Study

BACKGROUND

Although mental health issues constitute an increasing global burden affecting a large number of people, the mental health care industry is still facing several care delivery barriers such as stigma, education, and cost. Connected mental health (CMH), which refers to the use of information and communication technologies in mental health care, can assist in overcoming these barriers.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this systematic mapping study is to provide an overview and a structured understanding of CMH literature available in the Scopus database.

METHODS

A total of 289 selected publications were analyzed based on 8 classification criteria: publication year, publication source, research type, contribution type, empirical type, mental health issues, targeted cohort groups, and countries where the empirically evaluated studies were conducted.

RESULTS

The results showed that there was an increasing interest in CMH publications; journals were the main publication channels of the selected papers; exploratory research was the dominant research type; advantages and challenges of the use of technology for mental health care were the most investigated subjects; most of the selected studies had not been evaluated empirically; depression and anxiety were the most addressed mental disorders; young people were the most targeted cohort groups in the selected publications; and Australia, followed by the United States, was the country where most empirically evaluated studies were conducted.

CONCLUSIONS

CMH is a promising research field to present novel approaches to assist in the management, treatment, and diagnosis of mental health issues that can help overcome existing mental health care delivery barriers. Future research should be shifted toward providing evidence-based studies to examine the effectiveness of CMH solutions and identify related issues.

Perceived Feasibility, Acceptability, and Cultural Adaptation for a Mental Health Intervention in Rural Haiti

Mental healthcare is largely unavailable throughout Haiti, particularly in rural areas. The aim of the current study is to explore perceived feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of potential culturally adapted interventions to improve mental health among Haitian women. The study used focus group discussions (n = 12) to explore five potential interventions to promote mental health: individual counseling, income-generating skills training, peer support groups, reproductive health education, and couples' communication training. Findings indicate that individual counseling, support group, and skills training components were generally anticipated to be effective, acceptable, and feasible by both male and female participants. That being said, participants expressed doubts regarding the acceptability of the couples' communication training and reproductive health education due to: a perceived lack of male interest, traditional male and female gender roles, lack of female autonomy, and misconceptions about family planning. Additionally, the feasibility, effectiveness, and acceptability of the components were described as dependent on cost, proximity to participants, and inclusion of a female health promoter that is known in the community. Given the lack of research on intervention approaches in Haiti, particularly those targeting mental health, this study provides a foundation for developing prevention and treatment approaches for mental distress among Haitian women.

Pharmacotherapeutic interventions for bipolar disorder type II: addressing multiple symptoms and approaches with a particular emphasis on strategies in lower and middle-income countries

Introduction: Appropriately managing mental disorders is a growing priority across countries in view of the impact on morbidity and mortality. This includes patients with bipolar disorders (BD). Management of BD is a concern as this is a complex disease with often misdiagnosis, which is a major issue in lower and middle-income countries (LMICs) with typically a limited number of trained personnel and resources. This needs to be addressed.Areas covered: Medicines are the cornerstone of managing patients with Bipolar II across countries including LMICs. The choice of medicines, especially antipsychotics, is important in LMICs with high rates of diabetes and HIV. However, care is currently compromised in LMICs by issues such as the stigma, cultural beliefs, a limited number of trained professionals and high patient co-payments.Expert opinion: Encouragingly, some LMICs have introduced guidelines for patients with BD; however, this is very variable. Strategies for the future include addressing the lack of national guidelines for patients with BD, improving resources for mental disorders including personnel, improving medicine availability and patients' rights, and monitoring prescribing against agreed guidelines. A number of strategies have been identified to improve the treatment of patients with Bipolar II in LMICs, and will be followed up.

Mobile clinics in humanitarian emergencies: a systematic review

BACKGROUND

Despite the widespread reliance on mobile clinics for delivering health services in humanitarian emergencies there is little empirical evidence to support their use. We report a narrative systematic review of the empirical evidence evaluating the use of mobile clinics in humanitarian settings.

METHODS

We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, Global Health, Health Management Information Consortium, and The Cochrane Library for manuscripts published between 2000 and 2019. We also conducted a grey literature search via Global Health, Open Grey, and the WHO publication database. Empirical studies were included if they reported on at least one of the following evaluation criteria: relevance/appropriateness, connectedness, coherence, coverage, efficiency, effectiveness, and impact.

FINDINGS

Five studies met the inclusion criteria: all supported the use of mobile clinics in the particular setting under study. Three studies included controls. Two studies were assessed as good quality. The studies reported on mobile clinics providing non-communicable disease interventions, mental health services, sexual and reproductive health services, and multiple primary health care services in Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo , Haiti, and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Studies assessed one or more of the following evaluation domains: relevance/appropriateness, coverage, efficiency, and effectiveness. Four studies made recommendations including: i) ensure that mobile clinics are designed to complement clinic-based services; ii) improve technological tools to support patient follow-up, improve record-keeping, communication, and coordination; iii) avoid labelling services in a way that might stigmatise attendees; iv) strengthen referral to psychosocial and mental health services; v) partner with local providers to leverage resources; and vi) ensure strong coordination to optimise the continuum of care. Recommendations regarding the evaluation of mobile clinics include carrying out comparative studies of various modalities (including fixed facilities and community health workers) in order to isolate the effects of the mobile clinics. In the absence of a sound evidence base informing the use of mobile clinics in humanitarian crises, we encourage the integration of: i) WASH services, ii) nutrition services, iii) epidemic surveillance, and iv) systems to ensure the quality and safety of patient care. We recommend that future evaluations report against an established evaluation framework.

CONCLUSION

Evidence supporting the use of mobile clinics in humanitarian emergencies is limited. We encourage more studies of the use of mobile clinics in emergency settings.

FUNDING

Salary support for this review was provided under the RECAP project by United Kingdom Research and Innovation as part of the Global Challenges Research Fund, grant number ES/P010873/1.

Development of a comprehensive, sustained community mental health system in post-earthquake Haiti, 2010-2019

Between 2010 and 2019 the international health care organization Partners In Health (PIH) and its sister organization Zanmi Lasante (ZL) mounted a long-term response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake, focused on mental health. Over that time, implementing a Theory of Change developed in 2012, the organization successfully developed a comprehensive, sustained community mental health system in Haiti's Central Plateau and Artibonite departments, directly serving a catchment area of 1.5 million people through multiple diagnosis-specific care pathways. The resulting ZL mental health system delivered 28 184 patient visits and served 6305 discrete patients at ZL facilities between January 2016 and September 2019. The experience of developing a system of mental health services in Haiti that currently provides ongoing care to thousands of people serves as a case study in major challenges involved in global mental health delivery. The essential components of the effort to develop and sustain this community mental health system are summarized.