Opening up the ‘black-box’: what strategies do community mental health workers use to address the social dimensions of mental health?
| dc.contributor.author | Jain, Sumeet | |
| dc.contributor.author | Pillai , Pooja | |
| dc.contributor.author | Mathias, Kaaren | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2024-05-10T03:32:19Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2024-05-10T03:32:19Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2024 | |
| dc.description.abstract | Purpose: Community-based workers promote mental health in communities. Recent literature has called for more attention to the ways they operate and the strategies used. For example, how do they translate biomedical concepts into frameworks that are acceptable and accessible to communities? How do micro-innovations lead to positive mental health outcomes, including social inclusion and recovery? The aim of this study was to examine the types of skills and strategies to address social dimensions of mental health used by community health workers (CHWs) working together with people with psychosocial disability (PPSD) in urban north India. Methods: We interviewed CHWs (n = 46) about their registered PPSD who were randomly selected from 1000 people registered with a local non-profit community mental health provider. Notes taken during interviews were cross-checked with audio recordings and coded and analyzed thematically. Results: CHWs displayed social, cultural, and psychological skills in forming trusting relationships and in-depth knowledge of the context of their client's lives and family dynamics. They used this information to analyze political, social, and economic factors influencing mental health for the client and their family members. The diverse range of analysis and intervention skills of community health workers built on contextual knowledge to implement micro-innovations in a be-spoke way, applying these to the local ecology of people with psychosocial disabilities (PPSD). These approaches contributed to addressing the social and structural determinants that shaped the mental health of PPSD. Conclusion: Community health workers (CHWs) in this study addressed social aspects of mental health, individually, and by engaging with wider structural factors. The micro-innovations of CHWs are dependent on non-linear elements, including local knowledge, time, and relationships. Global mental health requires further attentive qualitative research to consider how these, and other factors shape the work of CHWs in different locales to inform locally appropriate mental health care. | |
| dc.identifier.citation | Jain S, Pillai P, Mathias K (2024). Opening up the ‘black-box’: what strategies do community mental health workers use to address the social dimensions of mental health?. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 59, 493–502 (2024) | |
| dc.identifier.doi | http://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-023-02582-1 | |
| dc.identifier.issn | 0933-7954 | |
| dc.identifier.issn | 1433-9285 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/10092/106703 | |
| dc.language | eng | |
| dc.publisher | Springer Science and Business Media LLC | |
| dc.rights | Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. | |
| dc.rights.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10092/17651 | |
| dc.subject | Community health workers | |
| dc.subject | Community mental health | |
| dc.subject | Global mental health | |
| dc.subject | India | |
| dc.subject | Social mental health | |
| dc.subject.anzsrc | 42 - Health sciences::4203 - Health services and systems::420313 - Mental health services | |
| dc.subject.anzsrc | 52 - Psychology::5203 - Clinical and health psychology::520302 - Clinical psychology | |
| dc.title | Opening up the ‘black-box’: what strategies do community mental health workers use to address the social dimensions of mental health? | |
| dc.type | Journal Article | |
| uc.college | Faculty of Health | |
| uc.department | School of Health Sciences |