Tag: DMHP: District Mental Health Programme

Primary Healthcare & Categories of Mental Health Programmes

Published on by Andrew MarshallLeave a comment

Research Paper Title

Innovative Mental Health Initiatives in India: A Scope for Strengthening Primary Healthcare Services.

Background

Mental health burden is a major health concern worldwide.

In the last few decades, we are witnessing innovations that are successfully addressing gaps in the mental health service delivery in Indian context.

This is an opportune time to explore existing innovative mental health initiatives in the country and integrate viable interventions to primary healthcare facilities to strengthen public mental healthcare delivery.

Methods

A descriptive review of literature on innovative mental health programs in India was carried out.

The initial search from google scholar and PubMed database yielded 1152 articles, of which 1,114 were excluded that did not meet inclusion criteria.

Full texts of 38 articles were reviewed and finally 22 studies were included for the study.

Results

Based on the review, most innovations are broadly summarised into five categories:

  1. Quality improvement mental health programmes;
  2. Community-based mental health programmes;
  3. Non-specialist mental health programmes;
  4. Mobile technology-based mental health programmes; and
  5. Tele-mental health programmes.

These promising innovations in treatment and care can be customised as per the context for scale up and integrated into the primary healthcare system through the District Mental Health Programme.

Conclusions

The innovative approach not only makes mental health services more accessible and affordable but also empowering in nature by encouraging community members in early detection, prevention of mental illness and appropriate treatment referral to existing primary health care services.

Reference

Pandya, A., Shah, K., Chauhan, A. & Saha, S. (2020) Innovative Mental Health Initiatives in India: A Scope for Strengthening Primary Healthcare Services. Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care. 9(2), pp.502-507. doi: 10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_977_19. eCollection 2020 Feb.

The Taluk Mental Health Programme Initiative

Published on by Andrew MarshallLeave a comment

Research Paper Title

Taluk Mental Health Program: The new kid on the block?

Background

This article highlights the platform and framework for the new public mental health initiative, the Taluk Mental Health Programme (TMHP), rolled out by the Government of India, as part of the expansion of the District Mental Health Programme.

In this initial phase, TMHP has been approved for ten taluks of Karnataka state.

In the authors’ collective opinion, few of the initiatives in the country could be considered as foundations for conceptualising the TMHP:

  • Research programmes and projects in the community;
  • Community intervention programmes running in two taluks of Karnataka since the past one and a half decade (Thirthahalli and Turuvekere taluks of Karnataka); and
  • The Primary Care Psychiatry Programme of National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences.

The article briefly describes the above initiatives and ends with further suggestions to scale up TMHP.

Reference

Manjunatha, N., Kumar, C.N., Chander, K.R., Sadh, K., Gowda, G.S., Vinay, B., Shashidhara, H.N., Parthasarathy, R., Rao, G.N., Math, S.B. & Thirthalli, J. (2019) Taluk Mental Health Program: The new kid on the block? Indian Journal of Psychiatry. 61(6), pp.635-639. doi: 10.4103/psychiatry.IndianJPsychiatry_343_19.