Embracing Technology for Capacity Building in Mental Health: New Path, Newer Challenges
- PDF / 207,373 Bytes
- 8 Pages / 439.37 x 666.142 pts Page_size
- 12 Downloads / 212 Views
Embracing Technology for Capacity Building in Mental Health: New Path, Newer Challenges Barikar C. Malathesh 1 & Ferose Aziz Ibrahim 1 & P. Lakshmi Nirisha 1 & Channaveerachari Naveen Kumar 1 & Prabhat Kumar Chand 1 & Narayana Manjunatha 1 & Suresh Bada Math 1 & Jagadisha Thirthalli 1 & Adarsha Alur Manjappa 2 & Rajani Parthasarathy 2 & Shanivaram Reddy 3 & Sanjeev Arora 4 Accepted: 15 November 2020/ # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract
Technology driven capacity building initiatives are the way to break the barrier of shortage of mental health human resources in India. This new path, while is a welcome step, comes with its own set of challenges. In one prototypic project that is being implemented in Ramanagara District of Karnataka, a south Indian state, we encountered many such issues. They ranged from issues related to availability of dedicated space to set up the hub-studio, inconsistent internet connectivity (particularly in remote areas) and inadequate digital literacy among the grassroot community health workers who hail from villages. This article summarises these challenges and ends by looking into ways and means of overcoming them. Keywords Telementoring . ICMR . ECHO . CHW’s
Background An acute shortage of trained mental health professionals is one of the many reasons for the burgeoning treatment gap in mental illnesses. The use of technology is proposed as a solution
* Channaveerachari Naveen Kumar [email protected]
1
Department of Psychiatry, Community Psychiatry Unit, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru, Karnataka 560029, India
2
Department of Health and Family Welfare, Government of Karnataka, India
3
Department of Psychiatric Social Work, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru, Karnataka 560029, India
4
The ECHO Institute, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA
Psychiatric Quarterly
[1]. Multiple such technology-driven capacity building initiatives are underway in India that have shown promise and have contributed to bridging the treatment gap [2–8]. All these efforts are conceptually speaking connecting a hub (manned by a specialist in mental health areas) with distant spokes consisting of non-specialist healthcare workforce (including MBBS doctors, AYUSH doctors, Assistant Medical Officers, counsellors, psychologists, social workers, nurses, ASHAs, etc). While these technology-driven innovations appear promising, certain challenges have started to emerge, particularly when these are applied to non-metro areas. This report summaries these impediments and provides future recommendations. To illustrate our case we have carefully examined one prototype digitally-enabled capacity building project at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru.
The Project A case in point is the implementation and evaluation of the ‘NIMHANS-ECHO blended training program in a rural south Indian District of Karnataka state. Project ECHO (Extension
Data Loading...
