Impact of mental health training on village health workers regarding clinical depression in rural India

Shreedhar Paudel, Nadege Gilles, Sigrid Hahn, Braden Hexom, Ramaswamy Premkumar, Shobha Arole, Craig Katz

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

Village health worker (VHW) programs are known to be effective means of promoting health of communities. Comprehensive rural health project in India recently trained VHWs to identify, refer, and help people with mental health issues. This study evaluated knowledge, attitude, and behavior of VHWs regarding depression. Cluster sampling was used including all 36 VHWs trained in mental health. Among these, 24 were available and willing to participate in the study. Five FGDs were conducted among 24 VHWs, and the results were analyzed qualitatively. Four out of five groups were able to diagnose the presented case correctly as depression. VHWs were able to identify many symptoms and to suggest management options for depression. They showed supportive and empathetic attitudes towards depressed patients. VHWs are likely to be useful at identifying and assisting people with depression in the communities with lack of adequate resources provided they receive ongoing training and supervision.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)480-486
Number of pages7
JournalCommunity Mental Health Journal
Volume50
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 May 2014
Externally publishedYes

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