Identification of Psychiatric Disorders by Rural Grass-Root Health Workers: Case Series & Implications for the National Mental Health Program of India

• Published in: Psychiatric quarterly Vol. 92; no. 1; pp. 389 - 395
• Main Authors: Ibrahim, Ferose Azeez, Nirisha, Lakshmi, Barikar, Malathesh, Kumar, Channaveerachari Naveen, Chand, Prabhat Kumar, Manjunatha, Narayana, Math, Suresh Bada, Thirthalli, Jagadisha, Manjappa, Adarsha Alur, Parthasarathy, Rajani, Reddy, Shanivaram, Arora, Sanjeev
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.03.2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Activism; Adult; Community; Community Health Workers; Female; Health care; Health education; Health needs; Humans; India; Male; Medical personnel; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Mental disorders; Mental Disorders - diagnosis; Mental Disorders - therapy; Mental Health; Mental health care; Mental health services; Mental Health Services - organization & administration; Middle Aged; Midwives; Original Paper; Primary care; Psychiatry; Public Health; Sociology; Workers; India; Community mental healthcare; Treatment gap; Grass root health workers; Digitally driven training program
• ISSN: 0033-2720; 1573-6709
• DOI: 10.1007/s11126-020-09807-5

Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANMs) and Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) are well suited to cater to the mental health needs of the communities. Integrating primary mental health care into the general healthcare is one of the important objectives of the District Mental Health Program (DMHP) to reduce the treatment gap. As a part of an ICMR funded trial to evaluate the effectiveness of NIMHANS-ECHO blended training program, the ASHAs and ANMs were trained to identify and refer cases from the community. We aim to describe a series of cases identified by those workers from the community, highlighting their importance in our health care system.