Effects of school-based interventions on mental health stigmatization: a systematic review

Stigmatizing, or discriminatory, perspectives and behaviour, which target individuals on the basis of their mental health, are observed in even the youngest school children. We conducted a systematic review of the published and unpublished, scientific literature concerning the benefits and harms of school-based interventions, which were directed at students 18 years of age or younger to prevent or eliminate such stigmatization. Forty relevant studies were identified, yet only a qualitative synthesis was deemed appropriate. Five limitations within the evidence base constituted barriers to drawing conclusive inferences about the effectiveness and harms of school-based interventions: poor reporting quality, a dearth of randomized controlled trial evidence, poor methods quality for all research designs, considerable clinical heterogeneity, and inconsistent or null results. Nevertheless, certain suggestive evidence derived both from within and beyond our evidence base has allowed us to recommend the development, implementation and evaluation of a curriculum, which fosters the development of empathy and, in turn, an orientation toward social inclusion and inclusiveness. These effects may be achieved largely by bringing especially but not exclusively the youngest children into direct, structured contact with an infant, and likely only the oldest children and youth into direct contact with individuals experiencing mental health difficulties. The possible value of using educational activities, materials and contents to enhance hypothesized benefits accruing to direct contact also requires investigation. Overall, the curriculum might serve as primary prevention for some students and as secondary prevention for others

An initiative to improve mental health practice in primary care in Caribbean countries

Objectives. The aim of this initiative was to assess whether a novel training program – Understanding Stigma and Strengthening Cognitive Behavioral Interpersonal Skills – could improve primary health care providers’ confidence in the quality of mental health care they provide in the Caribbean setting by using the Plan-Do-Study-Act rapid cycle for learning improvement. Methods. We conducted a prospective observational study of the impact of this training program. The training was refined during three cycles: first, the relevance of the program for practice improvement in the Caribbean was assessed. Second, pilot training of 15 local providers was conducted to adapt the program to the culture and context. Third, the course was launched in fall 2021 with 96 primary care providers. Pre- and post-program outcomes were assessed by surveys, including providers’ confidence in the quality of the mental health care they provided, changes in stigma among the providers and their use of and comfort with the tools. This paper describes an evaluation of the results of cycle 3, the official launch. Results. A total of 81 participants completed the program. The program improved primary care providers’ confidence in the quality of mental health care that they provided to people with lived experience of mental health disorders, and it reduced providers’ stigmatization of people with mental health disorders. Conclusions. The program’s quality improvement model achieved its goals in enhancing health care providers’ confidence in the quality of the mental health care they provided in the Caribbean context; the program provides effective tools to support the work and it helped to empower and engage clients

Controlled trial of the impact of a BC adult mental health practice support program (AMHPSP) on primary health care professionals’ management of depression

Background: Depression affects over 400 million people globally. The majority are seen in primary care. Barriers in providing adequate care are not solely related to physicians’ knowledge/skills deficits, but also time constraints, lack of confidence/avoidance, which need to be addressed in mental health-care redesign. We hypothesized that family physician (FP) training in the Adult Mental Health Practice Support Program (AMHPSP) would lead to greater improvements in patient depressive symptom ratings (a priori primary outcome) compared to treatment as usual. Methods: From October 2013 to May 2015, in a controlled trial 77 FP practices were stratified on the total number of physicians/practice as well as urban/rural setting, and randomized to the British Columbia AMHPSP⎯a multi-component contact-based training to enhance FPs’ comfort/skills in treating mild-moderate depression (intervention), or no training (control) by an investigator not operationally involved in the trial. FPs with a valid license to practice in NS were eligible. FPs from both groups were asked to identify 3–4 consecutive patients > 18 years old, diagnosis of depression, Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) score ≥ 10, able to read English, intact cognitive functioning. Exclusion criteria: antidepressants within 5 weeks and psychotherapy within 3 months of enrollment, and clinically judged urgent/emergent medical/psychiatric condition. Patients were assigned to the same arm as their physician. Thirty-six practices recruited patients (intervention n = 23; control n = 13). The study was prematurely terminated at 6 months of enrollment start-date due to concomitant primary health-care transformation by health-system leaders which resulted in increased in-office demands, and recruitment failure. We used the PHQ-9 to assess between-group differences at baseline, 1, 2, 3, and 6 months follow-up. Outcome collectors and assessors were blind to group assignment. Results: One hundred-and-twenty-nine patients (intervention n = 72; control n = 57) were analysed. A significant improvement in depression scores among intervention group patients emerged between 3 and 6 months, time by treatment interaction, likelihood ratio test (LR) chi2(3) = 7.96, p = .047. Conclusions: This novel skill-based program shows promise in translating increased FP comfort and skills managing depressed patients into improved patient clinical outcomes⎯even in absence of mental health specialists availability. Trial registration #NCT01975948 .Medicine, Faculty ofOther UBCNon UBCPsychiatry, Department ofReviewedFacult