Available: 07/03/17, Expires: 12/31/24
Improving the care of people living with a range of mental health conditions through community health workers in India and the US. A key component of the program is a suite of NIH funded projects addressing the needs of adults with depression (ESSENCE, IMPRESS and OPTIMISING). Another major component of the program is EMPOWER, which seeks to use digital tools for building a community based workforce to deliver evidence based psychosocial interventions (see the separate entry for this opportunity for more details). Several other types of research are also in progress, such as the design and evaluation of digital tools for assessment of early childhood cognitive development and detect neurodevelopmental disorders (STREAM). More information can be found here https://mentalhealthforalllab.hms.harvard.edu/
Most of the global research is conducted in India, in partnership with Sangath (www.sangath.in) in one of three sites: Goa, New Delhi and Bhopal. Diverse roles are offered, including experience of community health care, digital innovations for training health care providers (also see the separate listing for the EMPOWER opportunity), clinical cohorts and randomized controlled trials, psychological therapies and data analysis and writing papers.
Available: 02/18/22, Expires: 01/01/24
Psychosocial interventions are amongst the most effective, and preferred, treatment options for a range of mental health conditions. Lack of skilled human resources is a major barrier restricting the ability of health care systems to deliver these interventions. Our team is building a digital platform called EMPOWER through which front line providers can learn, master, and deliver evidence-based psychosocial interventions. EMPOWER embraces the accompaniment model, which entails a life long learning journey.
Our current projects are:
In the US and India: Skill building digital training for frontline workers on brief evidence-based psychological treatment to address adults suffering from depression.
In the US and India: Joint curriculum development to digitally train peers with lived experience to support social recovery for people suffering from chronic psychotic conditions.
In the US: Curriculum development for school professionals to be digitally trained in transdiagnostic interventions to address adolescents’ mood and anxiety disorders.
In South Asia: Curriculum development to digitally train frontline workers in a parental-mediated intervention for autism spectrum disorder.
Opportunities for students:
Conduct scoping review: to identify active ingredients to be included in the digital curriculum, and the evidence on their effectiveness, feasibility and acceptability for the target audience
Scope the range of providers: to identify the range of potential providers, their settings of work, and their training, roles and skills
Assess provider views about the intervention and elaborate implementation pathway for the curriculum: to inform the curriculum, the selection of key ingredients, the framework of the curriculum, the role plays and its scenarios and main characters; chart the pathway for the delivery of training and subsequent capacity development for providers
Evaluate the acceptability of the curriculum to the target audience: by gathering feedback on the curriculum, its acceptability, navigation process, and overall engagement
Adapt the EQUIP (WHO) standardized competency assessment role plays and rating sheets, including adapting the scenarios, patient description, role plays and rating sheets to curriculum, aimed to assess the level of skills mastered by trainees
Evaluate the acceptability, feasibility and effectiveness of the training, and the knowledge and skills assessment
Cultural Adaptation: Apply a standard operating procedure for adapting the training to different contexts and cultures
Evaluate the acceptability, feasibility and effectiveness of remotely delivered peer supervision of the quality of the delivery of psychosocial interventions.
We are seeking students who are:
Interested in global health delivery and health equity
Able to work collaboratively and independently with individuals from diverse backgrounds
Resourceful and eager to learn methods for scaling up mental health care
We offer:
Diverse learning opportunities in research methods related to global health delivery
Support and supervision from experienced researchers in global mental health
Opportunities to author research papers and reports
Opportunities to work with diverse stakeholders
If you want to know more, please visit www.empower.care or contact ncarmio@hms.harvard.edu