Implementing National Mental Health Program: Local leaders’ perspectives and lessons for national action

• Published in: Asian journal of psychiatry Vol. 53; p. 102233
• Main Authors: Chander Kalaivanan, Rakesh, Basavaraju, Vinay, Sadh, Kamaldeep, Rahul, Patley, Harihara Nagabhushana, Shashidhara, Manjunatha, Narayana, Kumar, Channaveerachari Naveen, Math, Suresh Bada
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.10.2020
• Subjects: Leadership program; Mental health leadership; National Mental Health Program; Mental health leadership; National Mental Health Program; Leadership program
• ISSN: 1876-2018; 1876-2026
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ajp.2020.102233

•(17%) felt the need to upgrade their skills in specialty areas for comprehensive public mental health care delivery.•Upscaling public mental health The leadership program provided an impetus on mental health leadership to district level health authorities and service providers for upscaling public mental healthcare delivery.•Aim was to understand the effectiveness of the program by getting feedback from the participants on their needs and expectations to work at primary care level.•Majority gave a feedback expressing satisfaction on the program format (98%) and appropriate content meeting their expectation (93%).•The health authorities (43%) gained better insights into the magnitude of mental health concerns and the service providers by training non specialists by harnessing technology across the country is the need of the hour. The article is about a set of leadership programs on ‘mental health leadership under NMHP’ that was completed for 161 participants who are the district level health authorities and service providers (psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses and social workers) by the Community Psychiatry Unit of the Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru. The overarching aim of these programs was to provide an impetus to mental health leadership at district levels that could enable them to upscale public mental healthcare delivery. Upon completion of the program, 109 participants provided a feedback on the content of the program. Majority (98 %) were satisfied with the format of the program in which it was conducted and felt that their expectations were either partially or completely satisfied with appropriate content (93 %). The health authorities (43 %) gained better insights into the magnitude of mental health concerns and agreed that mental health service delivery should scale up. The service providers (17 %) felt the need to upgrade their skills in specialty areas of psychiatry in order to gear up for comprehensive mental health care delivery. Finally, the authors argue that such local level learnings should drive the policy making at the national level