Assessing the Utility of Mental Health Training of Primary Care Professionals and Psychologists in the Dominican Republic.

In 2017, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS) conducted a survey in Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic that revealed a high rate of mental health disorders. To address the shortage of mental health services, ISMMS collaborated with the Instituto Terapéutico y Psicológico para la Familia (INTEP) to provide training sessions to local primary care providers (PCPs) and psychologists in psychopharmacotherapy and cognitive behavioral therapy, respectively. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of the training on providers' confidence about and attitudes towards providing mental health care. Trainees were administered a survey pre, immediate post, and three-months following training sessions to assess their comfort in diagnosing and treating psychiatric conditions. Post-training interviews were conducted to assess the impact of the training. A total of 78 PCPs participated in the initial training session. Chi-squared and Fisher Exact analyses conducted on PCPs' responses to individual survey items revealed significant increases in the proportion of respondents agreeing to feeling comfortable managing targeted psychiatric conditions after training as compared to before training. Interviews with 28 PCPs supported these results. Five of the 12 trained psychologists were interviewed and endorsed success in integrating the training into their practice, noting improved patient outcomes. Both PCPs and psychologists described an enhanced sense of confidence in managing patients with mental health disorders after training, emphasizing the positive impact that psychiatric training initiatives in primary care settings have in promoting sustainable mental healthcare systems in low-resource settings.