Training primary mental health workers in Malawi, to enable them to treat patients with mental health problems and assess the impact on the number of cases treated for malaria and non-specific musculoskeletal pains

Primary mental health workers training and its impact on service delivery in a developing country (Malawi): a cluster-randomised controlled trial

Status

Active, not recruiting

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Interventional

Source

ISRCTN

Registry ID

ISRCTN66182879

Enrollment

2600

Registered

2012-03-01

Start date

2008-10-01

Completion date

Unknown

Last updated

2015-01-13

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Common mental disorders i.e. depression and anxiety, malaria and non-specific musculoskeletal pains Mental and Behavioural Disorders Unspecified mental disorder

Interventions

Randomisation of the project was done at clinic level and all health workers and patients working and attending clinics that were randomised to a particular arm, belonged to that arm. The clinics were

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

All

Inclusion criteria

Inclusion criteria: 1. All health centres with outpatient services in the designated district 2. All primary health workers working in the health centres 3. Consecutive adult attendees aged 16 years and above at the Health Centres

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion criteria: 1. Health centres with no oupatient services 2. Primary health workers working in health centres with no outpatient services 3. Patients below 16 years and critically ill

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame
Number of cases diagnosed with depression, anxiety, malaria and non-specific musculoskeletal pains 1. The proportion of patients with depression as identified by the SCID who are correctly identified by PHC workers 1.1. Before and after intervention training in the intervention arm 1.2. Between intervention and control arms after intervention trainings in the intervention arm 2. The proportion of patients with a diagnosis of anxiety identified and treated by PHC workers 2.1. Before and after intervention training in intervention arm 2.2. Between intervention and control arms after intervention trainings in the intervention arm Integration of mental health in primary care using the specially designed toolkit will directly lead to improvement in other health outcomes in the designated district in the southern region of Malawi.	—

Measure

Time frame

Number of cases diagnosed with depression, anxiety, malaria and non-specific musculoskeletal pains 1. The proportion of patients with depression as identified by the SCID who are correctly identified by PHC workers 1.1. Before and after intervention training in the intervention arm 1.2. Between intervention and control arms after intervention trainings in the intervention arm 2. The proportion of patients with a diagnosis of anxiety identified and treated by PHC workers 2.1. Before and after intervention training in intervention arm 2.2. Between intervention and control arms after intervention trainings in the intervention arm Integration of mental health in primary care using the specially designed toolkit will directly lead to improvement in other health outcomes in the designated district in the southern region of Malawi.

—

Secondary

Measure	Time frame
The differences in proportion of patients treated for clinically diagnosed malaria and non-specific musculoskeletal pains respectively by PHC workers in control and intervention arms	—

Countries

Malawi

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ISRCTN (via WHO ICTRP) · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026