Technology Assisted Cascade Training and Supervision of Community Health Workers for Thinking Healthy Programme

Overview

The Thinking Healthy Program is evidence based psychological intervention, delivered by non-specialists, with proven impact on maternal depression. A major challenge in the scale-up of this intervention, especially where health systems are weak, is providing quality training and supervision at scale. Women living in post-conflict areas are at a higher risk of depression than the general population.The key innovation proposed is the development and evaluation of a technology-assisted cascade training and supervision system to assist scale-up of the Thinking Healthy Programme in a post conflict area of Pakistan.

The Thinking Healthy Program (THP) is a cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT)-based intervention for maternal depression, delivered by non-specialists.In a recent meta-analysis commissioned by the WHO, THP was shown to have a large effect and has been adopted by the WHO for global dissemination through its mhGAP programme. A major challenge in the scaling up of this evidence-based intervention is the provision of training and supervision at scale, especially in post-conflict areas with weak health systems. The investigators aim to meet this challenge by providing technology based solutions to training and supervision. Building on the organization's previous work in this area, investigators aim to develop Avatar-assisted cascade training and supervision system that includes: (a) a interactive voice response system for phone based assessment to screen depression in the community; (b) a Tablet-based manual , using special characters or avatars allowing standardized training to be delivered without the need for a specialist trainer; and (c) a cascade training model whereby specialists supervise, from distance, the community health worker program supervisors, who in turn, supervise the community health workers (CHW) as part of their normal routine. The Lady Health Worker (LHW) Programme covers 85% of Pakistan's rural population through 115,000 LHWs . If this study is able to provide a technological solution to the training and supervision of health workers, they have the potential to provide treatment to an estimated 5 million women in rural Pakistan with maternal depression. Investigators intend conducting the study in District Swat affected by multiple humanitarian crises in recent years. Swat has a population of 1,257,602 persons, 86% of whom live in rural areas with the average household size of 8.8 persons with a low female literacy. The resurgence of the Taliban movement in the Swat Valley of Pakistan since 2004, and the military operations in 2009 and the displacement of residents created a humanitarian crisis in the area. The devastating floods of 2010 put thousands of people out of their homes, and caused destruction to houses, roads, schools and health facilities.The health infrastructure of a post conflict zone like Swat is particularly fragile with the health workers under threat of being attacked, limiting their mobility. Mental health impacts of conflict are often severe and may not be depicted in the national statistics.