Depression, Mania, Psychosis
Conditions
Keywords
mHealth, Psychosis, Mania, Depression
Brief summary
In West Africa, most people with serious mental illness receive care from traditional or faith healers at prayer camps. The stepped-wedge cluster randomized trial aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a dual-pronged intervention package comprised of a mobile health program designed to train healers to deliver evidence-based psychosocial interventions combined with pharmacotherapy delivered directly to the patients at their prayer camps via a visiting nurse in Ghana.
Detailed description
The study involves deployment of an intervention in Ghanian prayer camps where traditional and faith healers provide care for people with mental illness. The intervention has two components: a visiting nurse that provides medications to patients staying at the prayer camps combined with a smartphone app called M-Healer that is used by the staff working at the camps. The app is designed to provide them with training on how to deliver some psychosocial interventions, monitor the health and well-being of their patients, and protect human rights at the camps. The stepped-wedge cluster randomized study design involves all participant groups beginning the trial receiving enhanced usual care with random sequential crossover of groups to the experimental condition until all groups have been exposed to the full intervention. Throughout the study, participant data will be collected at baseline, mid-treatment, and post-treatment. Following study completion, the intervention will be evaluated by comparing changes in psychiatric symptoms of participants from baseline to post-treatment.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALmHealer
MHealer is a software application installed on smartphones that provides psychosocial treatment support and patient condition tracking.
Sponsors
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
University of Washington
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
CROSSOVER
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Aged 18 years or older * Speaks Twi or English * Current inpatient staying at a study prayer camp * A diagnosis of psychosis, mania, or depression
Exclusion criteria
* Serious physical illness or in need of urgent medical attention
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Psychiatric symptoms | Baseline, 4 weeks, 8 weeks | Change in psychiatric symptoms of study participants as measured by the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale |
| Depressive symptoms | Baseline, 4 weeks, 8 weeks | Change in depressive symptoms of participants as measured by the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 |
Countries
Ghana
Contacts
Primary ContactDror Ben-Zeev, PhD
Backup ContactAlexa Beaulieu, MPH
Outcome results
None listed