Addressing the specialist workforce CAMH skill-gap: providing and evaluating iCAMH training in Fiji and Papua New Guinea.

OBJECTIVE: Child and adolescent mental health problems are common and result in significant morbidity. Whereas in high-income countries there is an established workforce, in lower income countries, such as the Pacific nations, the workforce has little capacity despite a potentially higher population risk of mental disorder. We report on a workforce development effort, a child and adolescent mental health training package. METHOD: We describe the implementation and evaluation of the International Child and Adolescent Mental Health certificate training in two Pacific nations. RESULTS: Clinicians rated the training positively. Some participants reported concern with teaching materials. Attitudes to child and adolescent mental health were more favourable following the course. A change in knowledge or skill could not be determined. CONCLUSIONS: The training seems of value to Pacific clinicians and the framework provides for case-based learning across settings. The training would benefit from the addition of a valid assessment of participant skill and knowledge. The sociocultural and contextual factors are considerations for the content and delivery. Contextually appropriate resources and teaching strategies are important.

CAMH in Primary Care Fiji: developing child and adolescent mental health in primary care.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the CAMH in Primary Care Fiji Project. METHODS: The context; process of development and planning; aims and goals; delivery and outcome are described. RESULTS: Two CAMH in Primary Care Fiji training workshops were delivered in 2017 and 2018 with positive structured and unstructured feedback. CONCLUSION: A successful, collaboratively developed, culturally appropriate and replicable training for primary care in CAMH is possible.

Pasifika Study Group: a child and adolescent mental health capacity building and leadership workshop with Pacific nations doctors and psychiatrists.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the Pasifika Study Group (PSG), a biennial workshop for Pacific nations psychiatrists and doctors working in psychiatry under the auspices of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatry Faculty of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. METHOD: Since 2013 the PSG has brought together doctors and other health professionals from eight Pacific nations for a two-day study group. RESULTS: On evaluation the PSG is considered informative and relevant and participants were generally confident of adapting the material to their own context. CONCLUSION: The PSG demonstrates a successful approach to regional engagement in mental health in the Pacific region.

Child and Adolescent Psychiatry International Relations (CAPIR): building bridges for psychiatry workforce capacity with Pacific Island nations.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the span of work of child and adolescent psychiatrists in Australia and New Zealand in recent years aimed at collaborative efforts to build mental health capacity in the Pacific Island nations of Fiji, Samoa, Cook Islands, Tonga, Kiribati, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea. METHOD: Steps taken to coordinate resourcing, networking, delivery of appropriate initiatives, establishing and maintaining key relationships with partners are described. RESULTS: Engagement with Pacific nations mental health professionals, ministries of health, NGOs, universities, multilateral agencies and professional and international organisations has expanded and strengthened since 2013. CONCLUSIONS: Planned and staged implementation of initiatives can harness RANZCP (and its faculties and interest groups) goodwill to effectively contribute to psychiatry and mental health capacity building in partnerships with Pacific Island nations to address mental health needs over the life-span.

Capacity building for Pacific Island countries: the challenges and benefits of developing a postgraduate clinical training programme.

OBJECTIVES: To describe the development of a postgraduate clinical training programme in mental health for the Pacific region by the Fiji National University (FNU), the challenges and benefits. CONCLUSIONS: The establishment of FNU's one-year full-time postgraduate diploma in mental health (PGDMH) has resulted in graduates across the Pacific in all three main regions of Oceania trained as frontline practitioners in mental health. Most of the graduates hold key mental health positions in their respective countries. The PGDMH provides culturally relevant and sensitive training in settings and with resources similar to the graduates' homelands. Challenges relate mainly to the sustainability of the programme, selection of candidates, addressing the needs of stakeholders and teaching in an evolving, under-resourced mental health service. The ongoing challenge continues to be the maintenance of a symbiotic co-existence that results in mutual benefits for both the University and stakeholders without jeopardizing the integrity of the programme or the independence of the University.