EFFECTIVENESS OF COMMUNITY-BASED MENTAL HEALTH PROGRAMS IN IMPROVING PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING AND REDUCING DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY IN LOW-RESOURCE SETTINGS: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW
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Keywords
Mental Health, Mental Health Programs, Psychological Well-Being, Depression and Anxiety
Abstract
Depression and anxiety disorders are major mental illnesses that lead to increased morbidity and mortality especially individuals in resource poor areas. However, mental health care is still largely unavailable in LMICs because of resource limitations, cultural barriers, and scarcity of mental health workforce. Community-based mental health programs are now recognized as a cheaper and sustainable model to treat patients instead of conventional models reliant on professional personnel, peers support, m-Health solution and culturally appropriate therapy.
This systematic review aims to assess the efficacy of these interventions to enhance the psychological wellbeing of participants, and therefore, decrease depression and anxiety within LMICs. Based on PRISMA guidelines, thirteen articles were included in this paper, which comprised RCTs, quasi-experiments, and cohort studies. Literature reveals that task-shifting interventions decrease depressive symptoms effectively, peer-support interventions increase coping skills, mHealth interventions optimize treatment compliance, and culturally adapted therapy brings About sustained positive changes in psychological wellbeing.
However, issues of sustainability, culture, and mainstreaming of the rehabilitative effort in the healthcare domain are still open questions. This review emphasizes policy-based interventions to conduct long-term practice and discuss the studies in a global and cultural context. Systematic synthesis of evidence in this study offers key lessons about meaningfully narrowing the mental health treatment gap in LMICs through community-led approaches.
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Dr. Sadia Nikhet
Assistant Professor, Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences, Sheikh Zayed Medical College and Hospital, Rahim Yar Khan, PakistanDr. Ghazala Yasmeen Iqbal
MBBS, MCPS, MPH, CHPE, PhD Public Health Scholar, Assistant Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Sheikh Zayed Medical College, Rahim Yar Khan, PakistanDr. Muhammad Muizz Hassan
NCHD, Carlow / Kilkenny & South Tipp. Mental Health Services, Ireland
Dr. Shoaib Malik
Department of Family Medicine, Fatima Memorial Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan
Dr. Wajid Nazir
Department of Family Medicine, Fatima Memorial Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan
Dr. Naureen Saleem
Department of Family Medicine, Fatima Memorial Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan
