Consultation and training challenges at the Mamre Community Health Project

South African mental health services are in a crisis. Rural areas are particularly neglected. While shortage of resources is readily acknowledged, there have been various suggestions mooted to address these inadequacies. These solutions include: decentralisation, promotion of primary mental health care, encouraging community participation and involvement of indigenous helpers. Psychological consultation and training is a valuable way of implementing most of these suggestions as it is estimated that many mental health disorders are not diagnosed or treated because front-line workers do not have the knowledge or skill to do so. Although consultation and training is accepted as a useful way of working, it is not without problems. Certain factors make it more or less possible to implement. These factors are discussed. Particular attention is paid to the topic of hierarchical relations inherent in intra-and interprofessional contexts. It is believed that these relations may interfere with the creation of equitable consultant-consultee partnerships, and therefore hinder the consultation and training process. The present research evaluates factors which facilitate or hinder the consultation and training programme at the Mamre Community Health Project. This project is a non-government organisation aiming to improve of the health of the community of Mamre, a small rural town on the west coast of the Western Cape. Target consultees, including nursing sisters, social workers and paraprofessionals, were interviewed using a semi-structured interview schedule. The aim was to elicit experiences and opinions of consultation and training. Psychological consultants who had worked at the Mamre Community Health Project were also interviewed using a semi-structured interview schedule to elicit their experiences of consultation. Athematic analysis highlights factors which facilitate and factors which inhibit the process. Results are discussed in the light of the literature review, and recommendations are made regarding the future practice of consultation and training.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Department of Psychology

Year dc:date.issued

1994

Author dc:creator

• Holdsworth, Marion

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Swartz, Leslie

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/13476

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/13476