Delivery of perinatal mental health services by training lay counselors using digital platforms

Abstract

The dearth of trained mental health care professionals to deliver specialized and complex models of interventions is one of the biggest barriers to accessing mental health care services particularly in less resourced settings. Perinatal mental health issues continue to contribute significantly to the global mental health burden. According to WHO (2015), 20 % of mothers in low and middle income countries suffer from a mental disorder after childbirth. There is robust research evidence particularly from LMICs to state that interventions delivered by non-specialist lay counsellors at the grass root level is emerging as an effective alternative to address the large treatment gaps.MAMTA Health Institute for mother and child(HIMC) is a pioneer organization in the field of RMNCH+A. Against this background, MAMTA HIMC explored the feasibility of remote training level health workers in the delivery of simple psycho social interventions for women in the perinatal period. Philips PAN India is a project at MAMTAHIMC which attempts to task shift expert mental health services to front line workers by interspersing simple psycho services into the framework of routine RMCH+A services. The paper aims to (1) Describe the experience of remote training of persons with no previous knowledge or experience of mental health to recognize mental health problems and deliver psychosocial services at the grassroot level 2) Discuss the impact and acceptability of the training.The paper recommends using non- specialized strategies, digital platforms, engaging community level human resources and low cost resources as opposed to complex conventional psychotherapies.