@article{94105,
  keywords = {Medical education, Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP), Mental Health Gap Action Programme Intervention Guide (mhGAP-IG), Mental disorders, Nursing education, Pre-service training, Treatment gap, World Health Organization},
  author = {Chaulagain A and Pacione L and Abdulmalik J and Hughes P and Oksana K and Chumak S and Mendoza J and Avetisyan K and Ghazaryan G and Gasparyan K and Chkonia E and Servili C and Chowdhury N and Pinchuk I and Belfar M and Guerrero A and Panteleeva L and Skokauskas N},
  title = {WHO Mental Health Gap Action Programme Intervention Guide (mhGAP-IG): the first pre-service training study.},
  abstract = {<p><b>Background: </b>Despite the increasing burden of mental, neurological, and substance use (MNS) disorders, a significant treatment gap for these disorders continues to exist across the world, and especially in low- and middle-income countries. To bridge the treatment gap, the World Health Organization developed and launched the Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP) and the mhGAP Intervention Guide (mhGAP-IG) to help train non-specialists to deliver care. Although the mhGAP-IG has been used in more than 100 countries for in-service training, its implementation in pre-service training, that is, training prior to entering caregiver roles, is very limited.</p><p><b>Aim of the study: </b>The aim of this study was to collect and present information about the global experience of academic institutions that have integrated WHO's mhGAP-IG into pre-service training.</p><p><b>Methods: </b>A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted using an electronic questionnaire, from December 2018 to June 2019.</p><p><b>Results: </b>Altogether, eleven academic institutions across nine countries (Mexico, Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Somaliland, Armenia, Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan) participated in this study. Five of the institutions have introduced the mhGAP-IG by revising existing curricula, three by developing new training programmes, and three have used both approaches. A lack of financial resources, a lack of support from institutional leadership, and resistance from some faculty members were the main obstacles to introducing this programme. Most of the institutions have used the mhGAP-IG to train medical students, while some have used it to train medical interns and residents (in neurology or family medicine) and nursing students. Use of the mhGAP-IG in pre-service training has led to improved knowledge and skills to manage mental health conditions. A majority of students and teaching instructors were highly satisfied with the mhGAP-IG.</p><p><b>Conclusions: </b>This study, for the first time, has collected evidence about the use of WHO's mhGAP-IG in pre-service training in several countries. It demonstrates that the mhGAP-IG can be successfully implemented to train a future cadre of medical doctors and health nurses.</p>},
  year = {2020},
  journal = {International journal of mental health systems},
  volume = {14},
  pages = {47},
  month = {01/2020},
  issn = {1752-4458},
  url = {https://ijmhs.biomedcentral.com/track/pdf/10.1186/s13033-020-00379-2},
  doi = {10.1186/s13033-020-00379-2},
  language = {eng},
}