ArticleGlobal mental health (Cambridge, England)2019
Scaling-up psychological interventions in resource-poor settings: training and supervising peer volunteers to deliver the 'Thinking Healthy Programme' for perinatal depression in rural Pakistan.
Article in Global mental health (Cambridge, England), 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The trial behind it
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Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 46 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effectiveness and implementation outcomes for peer-delivered mental health interventions in low- and middle-income countries: a mixed-methods systematic review.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2022Pooled it
- Primary-level worker interventions for the care of people living with mental disorders and distress in low- and middle-income countries.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2021Pooled it
- A systematic review and meta-analysis of group peer support interventions for people experiencing mental health conditions.BMC psychiatry · 2021Pooled it
- Standardising Training of Nurses in an Evidence-Based Psychosocial Intervention for Perinatal Depression: Randomized Trial of Electronic vs. Face-to-Face Training in China.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Trial
- Effectiveness of a peer-delivered, psychosocial intervention on maternal depression and child development at 3 years postnatal: a cluster randomised trial in Pakistan.The lancet. Psychiatry · 2020Trial
- Effectiveness of psychological interventions for reducing depressive symptoms among women experiencing perinatal depression: a systematic review.AJOG global reports · 2026Review
- The evolution of supportive supervision in low- and middle-income countries.BMC global and public health · 2026Review
- Understanding the impact of the PM4M intervention on women's mental wellbeing in Zambia and lessons for implementation: a qualitative study.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Strategies for spreading, scaling and sustaining perinatal mental health interventions in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs): A scoping review and thematic synthesis.Global mental health (Cambridge, England) · 2026Review
- Thinking local, thinking healthy: Cultural and contextual adaptation of the Thinking Healthy Programme in Nepal.Global mental health (Cambridge, England) · 2026Article
- Qualitative evaluation of the perceived impacts of a task-sharing mental health intervention.BMC health services research · 2025Article
- Navigating mental health issues: exploring cultural causal attribution, stigmatization, and care recommendation behavior in Pakistani adolescents and young adults.BMC psychology · 2025Article
- Feasibility and acceptability of community-based psychosocial interventions delivered by nonspecialists for perinatal common mental disorders: A systematic review using an implementation science framework.Global mental health (Cambridge, England) · 2025Review
- Piloting a psychosocial intervention for perinatal depression, the Thinking Healthy Programme-Peer delivered (THPP), in a primary care setting in Lilongwe District, Malawi.PLOS global public health · 2024Article
- Task-shifting in asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease management: A review of the obstructive lung disease program.Pakistan journal of medical sciences · 2024Article
- Peer counseling for perinatal depression in low- and middle-income countries: A scoping review.Global mental health (Cambridge, England) · 2024Article
- Training of Lived Experience Workforces: A Rapid Review of Content and Outcomes.Administration and policy in mental health · 2023Review
- Perspectives of Nonspecialists Delivering a Brief Depression Treatment in the United States: A Qualitative Investigation.BMC psychiatry · 2023Article
- Improving mental ill-health with psycho-social group interventions in South Asia-A scoping review using a realist lens.PLOS global public health · 2023Article
- Effective training practices for non-specialist providers to promote high-quality mental health intervention delivery: A narrative review with four case studies from Kenya, Ethiopia, and the United States.Global mental health (Cambridge, England) · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThere is a scarcity of specialist trainers and supervisors for psychosocial interventions in low- and middle-income countries. A cascaded model of training and supervision was developed to sustain delivery of an evidence-based peer-delivered intervention for perinatal depression (the Thinking Healthy Programme) in rural Pakistan. The study aimed to evaluate the model.
methodsMixed methods were employed as part of a randomised controlled trial of the intervention. Quantitative data consisted of the peers' competencies assessed during field training and over the implementation phase of the intervention, using a specially developed checklist. Qualitative data were collected from peers and their trainers through 11 focus groups during the second and third year of intervention rollout.
resultsFollowing training, 43 peers out of 45 (95%) achieved at least a 'satisfactory' level of competency (scores of ⩾70% on the Quality and Competency Checklist). Of the cohort of 45 peers initially recruited 34 (75%) were retained over 3 years and showed sustained or improved competencies over time. Qualitatively, the key factors contributing to peers' competency were use of interactive training and supervision techniques, the trainer-peer relationship, and their cultural similarity. The partnership with community health workers and use of primary health care facilities for training and supervision gave credibility to the peers in the community.
conclusionThe study demonstrates that lay-workers such as peers can be trained and supervised to deliver a psychological intervention using a cascaded model, thus addressing the barrier of scarcity of specialist trainers and supervisors.
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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.