Abstract
BackgroundDespite the increasing recognition globally of the importance of mental health for sustainable development, significant barriers remain to developing mental health services in low- and middle-income countries. This study explored the particular barriers and opportunities for developing mental health services in Cambodia and how these compared with those described in other low- and middle-income countries.MethodsFor this qualitative study, 18 experienced mental health professionals from different disciplines were selected using purposive sampling. Semi-structured interviews were carried out in Phnom Penh and thematic analysis of the data was completed.ResultsFive key themes were identified: (1) Prioritising mental health in Cambodia, (2) Strengthening collaborations between mental health stakeholders, (3) Developing a mental healthcare model appropriate for the Cambodian culture and context, (4) Increasing the quantity and (5) Improving the quality of mental healthcare. All five themes were referred to by all 18 participants and the two most repeated themes were (2) Strengthening collaborations and (5) Improving the quality of mental healthcare.ConclusionsThe themes identified in this study both corroborate previous barriers identified to developing mental health services in low- and middle-income countries and shed new light on opportunities of particular importance in Cambodia. Strengthening collaborations between key stakeholders in mental health and prioritising the quality of mental health education, training and service provision were both cited as being significant opportunities for enhancing the development of mental health services in Cambodia. These have not been widely described before as being important factors.
Highlights
Despite the increasing recognition globally of the importance of mental health for sustainable development, significant barriers remain to developing mental health services in low- and middle-income countries
Parry et al Int J Ment Health Syst (2020) 14:53 number of people with mental disorders who need care and those who receive care) in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), as well as a significant prevention gap and a quality gap [4]
Five key themes were established through the process of thematic analysis
Summary
Despite the increasing recognition globally of the importance of mental health for sustainable development, significant barriers remain to developing mental health services in low- and middle-income countries. The first “Lancet” Series of articles on global mental health in 2007 called for urgent action to scale up mental health services in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) [1]. Despite these reports, resources remain scarce for mental health services in many LMIC [4,5,6]. Barriers include: the low priority of mental health in comparison to other public health agendas [5,6,7,8,9,10], lack of political will [6,7,8, 10], inadequate funding and resources for mental health services [5,6,7,8,9,10], the challenge of decentralisation and integrating mental health services into a community setting [6,7,8], the shortage of public health trained mental health leaders [6,7,8] and the absence of service user involvement in development of mental healthcare [9]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
