Conducting global mental health research: lessons learned from Kenya
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Date
2021-02-08
Authors
Wasil, Akash R.
Osborn, Tom L.
Venturo-Conerly, Katherine E.
Wasanga, Christine
Weisz, John R.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Abstract
Mental health disorders are prevalent among youth and adolescents in low- and middleincome countries, and access to evidence-based treatments is poor. Although there is a great need for high-quality research to serve young people in low- and middle-income countries, there is limited guidance available for researchers who wish to conduct such work. Here, we describe our process of conducting school-based youth mental health work in Kenya over the last several years. We focus on five key lessons we learned that could guide future global mental health work with youth: (a) reducing stigma with strengths-focused interventions, (b) expanding access by working in schools, (c) generating buy-in from local stakeholders, (d) adapting the intervention via multicultural collaboration, and (e) applying insights from low- and middle-income countries to serve young people in high-income countries. We conclude by discussing how these lessons, and those shared by other teams, can be applied to help reduce the treatment gap for young people around the world.
Description
Research paper in Global Mental Health 8, e8, 1 –4. https://doi.org/10.1017/ gmh.2021.7
Keywords
Anxiety, depression, implementation science, multicultural collaboration, school-based mental health, school-based mental health
Citation
Wasil AR, Osborn TL, VenturoConerly KE, Wasanga C, Weisz JR (2021). Conducting global mental health research: lessons learned from Kenya. Global Mental Health 8, e8, 1 –4. https://doi.org/10.1017/ gmh.2021.7