ABSTRACT
The aim of the current study was to evaluate the integration of mental health program into primary health care system. In a cross-sectional, quantitative and qualitative study, the knowledge, attitude and performance of 1209 individuals of general population, 146 behvarzes, 35 health technicians and 51 general practitioners from rural health centers of Gilan, Tehran, Meshad, Iran, Kerman and Kermanshah universities of medical sciences who were undercoverage and out of coverage of mental health program in the rural areas of selected centers, were selected by randomized cluster sampling. The data was gathered using knowledge, attitude and performance questionnaires of behvarzes, general population and general practitioners toward mental health, behvarzes' performance on training, following up and referral of mentally patients based on primary health care [PHC] program, knowledge and attitude of general population toward mental illnesses, epilepsy, mental retardation, their causes and treatments, general physicians awareness about treatment, referral and integration of mental health program into PHC, general practitioners's performance of health centers and a semi-structured questionnaire for focus group discussion sessions [FGD]. Thirty trained mental health experts from neighborhood of selected provinces, completed questionnaires and analyzed. Descriptive statistics and independent t-test were executed. There was significant difference between behvarzes in areas under coverage and out of coverage in knowledge [p = 0.01] and attitude [p = 0.04], as well as between general population in areas under coverage and out of coverage in knowledge [p = 0.001] and attitude [p = 0.001]. Although the knowledge of general practitionners in the coverage areas were high, the findings showed that 34.3% of them had difficulty in diagnosis and 48.6% had problem in treatment of psychotic patients. Integration of mental health programs into PHC is an effective and affordable method which with continuous monitoring and evaluation could be lead to valuable results
Subject(s)
Humans , Program Evaluation , Primary Health Care , Cross-Sectional StudiesABSTRACT
The aim of the present study was to assess the degree of efficiency of mental health education for non-psychiatrist medical specialists in attracting public cooperation and the provision of mental health in the form of an urban cooperative model. The residents of districts 11, 16, and 18 in municipality area 6 of Tehran were considered as the covered community. 20 volunteers [as mental health contact], three individuals with master degree in clinical psychology or consultation, three psychiatrists, and 15 non-psychiatrist specialists [all from municipality area 6] comprised the subjects of the present study and voluntarily participated in this research. Data were gathered using quantitative [demographic questionnaires, specialists' survey, and mental health contact survey] as well as qualitative [registering observations and experiences] methods. Data analysis was done via SPSS-15 and using dependent t-test. The findings revealed that the scores of the volunteers and specialists changed from pretest to post-test [p = 0.002]. Also, urban mental health contacts identified the districts' patients subsequent to the training, and referred them to consultation centers, medical specialists, and district hospitals. Teaching mental health concepts to volunteers and medical professionals and involving them in a cooperative fashion in districts can be an efficient method of providing primary mental health services in large cities