ArticleGlobal mental health (Cambridge, England)2021
The Friendship Bench as a brief psychological intervention with peer support in rural Zimbabwean women: a mixed methods pilot evaluation.
Article in Global mental health (Cambridge, England), 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers.
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
22 citing papers in PubMed, 31 citations in OpenAlex.
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Individuals With Low Literacy and Perinatal Depression: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2026Trial
- The African youth in mind (Y-MIND) brief psychological intervention for depression among school-going adolescents in Ghana: a development case series.BMC psychiatry · 2026Trial
- Prevalence, risk factors and short-term consequences of adverse birth outcomes in Zimbabwean pregnant women: a secondary analysis of a cluster-randomized trial.International journal of epidemiology · 2022Trial
- Article
- The Cost Effectiveness of Treatment Strategies for Depression in Ethiopia: A Multiple Cohort Markov Model Analysis.Applied health economics and health policy · 2026Article
- Piloting a Digital App Based on the Friendship Bench for Depression and Anxiety in Palestine: Mixed Methods Study.JMIR mental health · 2026Article
- Providers' Experiences in Implementation of Friendship Bench: A Problem-Solving Therapy-Based Mental Health Intervention Adapted for People on Methadone Maintenance Treatment Who Live with HIV in Vietnam.AIDS and behavior · 2026Article
- Participatory research in mental health care services in low-income and middle-income countries: a scoping review.BMJ open · 2026Article
- Association between maternal-child interaction, maternal depression and early child development: an observational sub-study in rural Zimbabwe.BMJ paediatrics open · 2026Observational
- "When a man is stressed, it replicates in the house": Kenyan women's perspectives on the influence of male partners on perinatal mental health among women affected by HIV.PLOS global public health · 2026Article
- A Literature Review on the Role of Paraprofessionals in Delivering Brief Psychological Interventions.Administration and policy in mental health · 2026Review
- Addressing the Gap: Real-World Evidence of Technology-Enabled Coaching Services for Mental Health.Administration and policy in mental health · 2025Article
- Qualitative evaluation of the perceived impacts of a task-sharing mental health intervention.BMC health services research · 2025Article
- How policy entrepreneurs solve local health problems in the global South: an exploratory study.Health policy and planning · 2025Article
- Barriers and potential solutions for effective integration of depression care into non-communicable diseases clinics in Malawi: a qualitative end-point evaluation of the SHARP randomized controlled trial.International journal of mental health systems · 2025Article
- Barriers and facilitators to implementing a task-sharing mental health intervention for Sickle Cell Disease populations in low- and middle-income countries: a qualitative analysis using the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR).Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Feasibility, acceptability and preliminary effectiveness of a culturally adapted nonspecialist delivery Problem-Solving Therapy: Friendship Bench Intervention for perinatal psychological distress in Sierra Leone.Global mental health (Cambridge, England) · 2025Article
- Evaluating implementation research outcomes for a task-sharing mental health intervention: A systematic review of the Friendship Bench.Global mental health (Cambridge, England) · 2025Review
- The cultural adaptation of the Friendship Bench Intervention to address perinatal psychological distress in Sierra Leone: an application of the ADAPT-ITT framework and the Ecological Validity Model.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Community-based models of care for adolescent and adult depression, suicidal behavior, anxiety, trauma, and substance use in Africa: a scoping review.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
14 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThere is a large treatment gap for common mental disorders in rural areas of low-income countries. We tested the Friendship Bench as a brief psychological intervention delivered by village health workers (VHWs) in rural Zimbabwe.
methodsRural women identified with depression in a previous trial received weekly home-based problem-solving therapy from VHWs for 6 weeks, and joined a peer-support group. Depression was assessed using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and Shona Symptom Questionnaire (SSQ). Acceptability was explored through in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. The proportion of women with depression pre- and post-intervention was compared using McNemar's test.
resultsTen VHWs delivered problem-solving therapy to 27 women of mean age 33 years; 25 completed six sessions. Women valued an established and trustful relationship with their VHW, which ensured confidentiality and prevented gossip, and reported finding individual problem-solving therapy beneficial. Peer-support meetings provided space to share problems, solutions and skills. The proportion of women with depression or suicidal ideation on the EPDS declined from 68% to 12% [difference 56% (95% confidence interval (CI) 27.0-85.0);
conclusionVHW-delivered problem-solving therapy and peer-support was acceptable and showed promising results in this pilot evaluation, leading to quantitative and qualitative improvements in mental health among rural Zimbabwean women. Scale-up of the Friendship Bench in rural areas would help close the treatment gap for common mental disorders.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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.