The experiences of facility-based counsellors who provide a psychosocial intervention for mental illness in primary healthcare facilities in the Western Cape
type: CreativeWork
description: Background: Despite the movement in global mental health that advocates for task-sharing, few studies have investigated the experiences of facility-based counsellors (FBCs) who provide a psychosocial intervention for mental illness in primary healthcare. Project MIND, a cluster-randomized controlled trial at 24 primary healthcare facilities in the Western Cape, trained FBCs to deliver a threesession evidence-based intervention for patients with a common mental disorder. Therefore, project MIND presents an opportunity to address a gap in the literature by exploring the experiences and needs of FBCs delivering a psychosocial intervention. Aims & Objectives: The overall aim of this study is to explore the experiences of FBCs working on Project MIND in the dedicated (training and adding a counsellor to the chronic disease team) and designated (training and using existing counsellor from the chronic disease team) intervention arms. Specific objectives included: (1) exploring the barriers and challenges that FBCs experienced while delivering a psychosocial intervention; (2) exploring FBCs' perceptions of regular structured supervision, debriefing and in-service training for improving micro-counselling skills; and (3) eliciting suggestions from the FBCs for future scale up of counselling services in primary healthcare settings. Methods: A qualitative study was conducted among FBCs delivering the project MIND psychosocial intervention (N=18). All interviews were conducted by an independent qualitative interviewer in a private room at the primary healthcare facilities. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. NVivo 12 was used to store data and facilitate analysis using the Framework Approach. Results: Findings of the study were grouped according to four main themes. The first theme focused on FBCs' perceptions of the benefits of the project MIND training. Several perceived benefits were reported such as having a better understanding about mental illness part…
abstract: Background: Despite the movement in global mental health that advocates for task-sharing, few studies have investigated the experiences of facility-based counsellors (FBCs) who provide a psychosocial intervention for mental illness in primary healthcare. Project MIND, a cluster-randomized controlled trial at 24 primary healthcare facilities in the Western Cape, trained FBCs to deliver a threesession evidence-based intervention for patients with a common mental disorder. Therefore, project MIND presents an opportunity to address a gap in the literature by exploring the experiences and needs of FBCs delivering a psychosocial intervention. Aims & Objectives: The overall aim of this study is to explore the experiences of FBCs working on Project MIND in the dedicated (training and adding a counsellor to the chronic disease team) and designated (training and using existing counsellor from the chronic disease team) intervention arms. Specific objectives included: (1) exploring the barriers and challenges that FBCs experienced while delivering a psychosocial intervention; (2) exploring FBCs' perceptions of regular structured supervision, debriefing and in-service training for improving micro-counselling skills; and (3) eliciting suggestions from the FBCs for future scale up of counselling services in primary healthcare settings. Methods: A qualitative study was conducted among FBCs delivering the project MIND psychosocial intervention (N=18). All interviews were conducted by an independent qualitative interviewer in a private room at the primary healthcare facilities. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. NVivo 12 was used to store data and facilitate analysis using the Framework Approach. Results: Findings of the study were grouped according to four main themes. The first theme focused on FBCs' perceptions of the benefits of the project MIND training. Several perceived benefits were reported such as having a better understanding about mental illness part…
author: Jacobs, Yuche Andy
language: eng
date published: 2020
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:23:24Z
provider: University of Cape Town
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Cape Town

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/32498