'Opening up the mind': problem-solving therapy delivered by female lay health workers to improve access to evidence-based care for depression and other common mental disorders through the Friendship Bench Project in Zimbabwe

Melanie Abas; Tarryn Bowers; Ethel Manda; Sara Cooper; Debra Machando; Ruth Verhey; Neha Lamech; Ricardo Araya; Dixon Chibanda

doi:10.1186/s13033-016-0071-9

'Opening up the mind': problem-solving therapy delivered by female lay health workers to improve access to evidence-based care for depression and other common mental disorders through the Friendship Bench Project in Zimbabwe

Int J Ment Health Syst. 2016 May 11:10:39. doi: 10.1186/s13033-016-0071-9. eCollection 2016.

Authors

Melanie Abas¹, Tarryn Bowers², Ethel Manda², Sara Cooper³, Debra Machando⁴, Ruth Verhey², Neha Lamech⁵, Ricardo Araya⁶, Dixon Chibanda⁷

Affiliations

¹ Psychology and Neuroscience, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, London, UK.
² Zimbabwe AIDS Prevention Project, Department of Community Medicine, University of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe.
³ University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
⁴ Women's University in Africa, Harare, Zimbabwe.
⁵ Schizophrenia Research Foundation (SCARF), Chennai, India.
⁶ Centre for Global Mental Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
⁷ Zimbabwe AIDS Prevention Project, Department of Community Medicine, University of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe ; Zimbabwe Ministry of Health, Harare Central Hospital, ST 14 Southern, Harare, Zimbabwe.

Abstract

Background: There are few accounts of evidence-based interventions for depression and other common mental disorders (CMDs) in primary care in low-income countries. The Friendship Bench Project is a collaborative care mental health intervention in primary care in Harare for CMDs which began as a pilot in 2006.

Case presentation: We employed a mixture of quantitative and qualitative approaches to investigate the project's acceptability and implementation, 4-8 years after the initial pilot study. We carried out basic descriptive analyses of routine data on attendance collected between 2010 and 2014. We also conducted five focus group discussions (FGDs) with LHWs in 2013 and 12 in-depth interviews, six with staff and six with patients, to explore experiences of the intervention, which we analysed using grounded theory. Results show that the intervention appears highly acceptable as evidenced by a consistent number of visits between 2010 and 2014 (mean 505 per year, SD 132); by the finding that the same team of female community LHWs employed as government health promoters continue to deliver assessment and problem-solving therapy, and the perceived positive benefits expressed by those interviewed. Clients described feeling 'relieved and relaxed' after therapy, and having their 'mind opened', and LHWs describing satisfaction from being agents of change. Characteristics of the LHWs (status in the community, maturity, trustworthiness), and of the intervention (use of locally validated symptom screen, perceived relevance of problem-solving therapy) and continuity of the LHW team appeared crucial. Challenges to implementation included the LHWs ongoing need for weekly supervision despite years of experience; the supervisors need for supervision for herself; training needs in managing suicidal and hostile clients; poor documentation; lack of follow-up of depressed clients; and poor access to antidepressants.

Conclusions: This case study shows that a collaborative care intervention for CMDs is positively received by patients, rewarding for LHWs to deliver, and can be sustained over time at low cost. Next steps include evaluation of the impact of the intervention through a randomised trial, and testing of a technological platform for supporting supervision and monitoring clients' attendance.

Keywords: Common mental disorders; Depression; Evidence-based intervention; Friendship bench; Low income countries; Problem-solving therapy; Zimbabwe.