Alethea Desrosiers, Carolyn Schafer, Laura Bond, Adeyinka Akinsulure-Smith, Miriam Hinton, Alpha Vandi, Theresa S Betancourt
{"title":"Exploring potential mental health spillover effects among caregivers and partners of youth in Sierra Leone: A qualitative study.","authors":"Alethea Desrosiers, Carolyn Schafer, Laura Bond, Adeyinka Akinsulure-Smith, Miriam Hinton, Alpha Vandi, Theresa S Betancourt","doi":"10.1017/gmh.2023.36","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Given the large mental health treatment gap in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), particularly in post-conflict settings like Sierra Leone, and the limited healthcare infrastructure, understanding the wider benefits of evidence-based mental health interventions within households is critical. This study explored potential mental health spillover effects - the phenomenon of beneficial effects among nonparticipants - among cohabitating caregivers and partners of youth who participated in an evidence-based mental health intervention in Sierra Leone. We recruited a sub-sample of cohabitating caregivers and partners (<i>N</i> = 20) of youth intervention participants; caregivers had enrolled in a larger study investigating indirect benefits of the evidence-based intervention in Sierra Leone (MH117359). Qualitative interviews were conducted at two time points to explore the following: (a) potential mental health spillover effects and (b) through which mechanisms spillover may have occurred. Two trained coders reviewed transcripts and analyzed qualitative data, assisted by MaxQDA. Qualitative findings suggested that spillover effects likely occurred and supported three potential mechanisms: decreased caregiving burden, behavior changes among Youth Readiness Intervention participants and improved interpersonal relationships. Mental health spillover effects may occur following youth intervention participation in a post-conflict LMIC. Investing in evidence-based services may offer indirect benefits that extend beyond those directly receiving services.</p>","PeriodicalId":48579,"journal":{"name":"Global Mental Health","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.3000,"publicationDate":"2023-07-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10579673/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Global Mental Health","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1017/gmh.2023.36","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2023/1/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"PSYCHIATRY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Given the large mental health treatment gap in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), particularly in post-conflict settings like Sierra Leone, and the limited healthcare infrastructure, understanding the wider benefits of evidence-based mental health interventions within households is critical. This study explored potential mental health spillover effects - the phenomenon of beneficial effects among nonparticipants - among cohabitating caregivers and partners of youth who participated in an evidence-based mental health intervention in Sierra Leone. We recruited a sub-sample of cohabitating caregivers and partners (N = 20) of youth intervention participants; caregivers had enrolled in a larger study investigating indirect benefits of the evidence-based intervention in Sierra Leone (MH117359). Qualitative interviews were conducted at two time points to explore the following: (a) potential mental health spillover effects and (b) through which mechanisms spillover may have occurred. Two trained coders reviewed transcripts and analyzed qualitative data, assisted by MaxQDA. Qualitative findings suggested that spillover effects likely occurred and supported three potential mechanisms: decreased caregiving burden, behavior changes among Youth Readiness Intervention participants and improved interpersonal relationships. Mental health spillover effects may occur following youth intervention participation in a post-conflict LMIC. Investing in evidence-based services may offer indirect benefits that extend beyond those directly receiving services.
期刊介绍:
lobal Mental Health (GMH) is an Open Access journal that publishes papers that have a broad application of ‘the global point of view’ of mental health issues. The field of ‘global mental health’ is still emerging, reflecting a movement of advocacy and associated research driven by an agenda to remedy longstanding treatment gaps and disparities in care, access, and capacity. But these efforts and goals are also driving a potential reframing of knowledge in powerful ways, and positioning a new disciplinary approach to mental health. GMH seeks to cultivate and grow this emerging distinct discipline of ‘global mental health’, and the new knowledge and paradigms that should come from it.