ReviewGlobal mental health (Cambridge, England)2017
Applying systems thinking to task shifting for mental health using lay providers: a review of the evidence.
Review in Global mental health (Cambridge, England), 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 63 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
63 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The effectiveness of mental health interventions involving non-specialists and digital technology in low-and middle-income countries - a systematic review.BMC public health · 2024Pooled it
- Transdiagnostic Psychological Interventions for Symptoms of Common Mental Disorders Delivered by Non-Specialist Providers in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Depression and anxiety · 2024Pooled it
- Barriers and facilitators to implementation of evidence-based task-sharing mental health interventions in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review using implementation science frameworks.Implementation science : IS · 2022Pooled it
- Global Systematic Review of Common Mental Health Disorders in Adults Living with HIV.Current HIV/AIDS reports · 2021Pooled it
- Distant mood monitoring for depressive and bipolar disorders: a systematic review.BMC psychiatry · 2020Pooled it
- Assessment of Barriers and Facilitators to the Delivery of Care for Noncommunicable Diseases by Nonphysician Health Workers in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review and Qualitative Analysis.JAMA network open · 2019Pooled it
- Applying the Exploration Preparation Implementation Sustainment (EPIS) Framework to the Kigali Imbereheza Project for Rwandan Adolescents Living With HIV.Journal of acquired immune deficiency syndromes (1999) · 2019Trial
- Lay Counselor Delivery of Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT): A Systematic Review.Journal of child & adolescent trauma · 2026Article
- Organization-level determinants for low secondary traumatic stress in lay counselors delivering trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy in Kenya.PLOS global public health · 2026Article
- Existing practices, gaps and strategies to promote perinatal mental health in Ghana.Frontiers in global women's health · 2026Article
- Culturally adapting family interventions for people with schizophrenia in Indonesia: An intervention development study using programme theory.International journal of nursing studies advances · 2025Article
- Can anonymisation become disempowering? Rethinking ethics for low-risk global health research.Journal of global health · 2025Article
- Identifying Priorities for Enhancing Village Health Volunteer's Mental Health Recovery Practices in Thai Rural Communities: A Nominal Group Technique Study.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2025Article
- Promoting recovery and prevention simultaneously through peer providers to reduce the impact of childhood sexual abuse: Acceptability, feasibility, and fidelity of an integrated intervention model.Psychotherapy (Chicago, Ill.) · 2025Article
- Feasibility and acceptability of a solution-focused approach to strengthen lay counselling for common mental disorders (DIALOG+) in Pakistan: mixed methods study.BJPsych international · 2025Article
- Universal mental health training: policy proposal for national rollout of the new scalable intervention in Ukraine.Open research Europe · 2025Article
- Implementation of a school-based risk management protocol within a task-shifted mental healthcare model.Global mental health (Cambridge, England) · 2025Article
- A case study of the development of a valid and pragmatic implementation science measure: the Barriers and Facilitators in Implementation of Task-Sharing Mental Health interventions (BeFITS-MH) measure.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- Looking at Global Mental Health Models to Prevent Youth Suicide in the United States.The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine · 2024Article
- Collaboration between traditional health practitioners and biomedical health practitioners: Scoping review.African journal of primary health care & family medicine · 2024Article
3 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveThis paper seeks to review the available evidence to determine whether a systems approach is employed in the implementation and evaluation of task shifting for mental health using lay providers in low- and middle-income countries, and to highlight system-wide effects of task-shifting strategies in order to better inform efforts to strength community mental health systems.
methodsPubmed, CINAHL, and Cochrane Library databases were searched. Articles were screened by two independent reviewers with a third reviewer resolving discrepancies. Two stages of screens were done to ensure sensitivity. Studies were analysed using the World Health Organization's building blocks framework with the addition of a community building block, and systems thinking characteristics to determine the extent to which system-wide effects had been considered.
resultsThirty studies were included. Almost all studies displayed positive findings on mental health using task shifting. One study showed no effect. No studies explicitly employed systems thinking tools, but some demonstrated systems thinking characteristics, such as exploring various stakeholder perspectives, capturing unintended consequences, and looking across sectors for system-wide impact. Twenty-five of the 30 studies captured elements other than the most directly relevant building blocks of service delivery and health workforce.
conclusionsThere is a lack of systematic approaches to exploring complexity in the evaluation of task-shifting interventions. Systems thinking tools should support evidence-informed decision making for a more complete understanding of community-based systems strengthening interventions for mental health.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.