Webinar on task sharing and collaborative care model implementation
A webinar titled “Task sharing and implementation of collaborative care model in Rural Nepal” was held on 17th November 2021 from 6 pm to 7 pm Nepal time. It was the fourth webinar organized by TPO Nepal and George Washington University as part of the monthly web series for the capacity building of early career researchers in Nepal. The speakers for the event were Dr. Bibhav Acharya and Pragya Rimal. A total of 65 participants participated in the event which was facilitated by Sauharda Rai.
After Christina Juan from the George Washington University (GWU) introduced the speakers, the first speaker, Dr. Acharya, started his presentation “Challenges and opportunities with task-sharing in mental health care in rural Nepal”. In his presentation, he mentioned the transformation of Bayalpata hospital at Achham in collaboration with the government of Nepal through the non-profit Possible Health. He then described the collaborative care model where different health care professionals (community health workers, doctors, consulting psychiatrists, and psychosocial counselors) provide mental health services to the patient in an integrated manner with thorough quality assessment. The model includes training, supervision, and monitoring and evaluation to ensure quality.
After this, the second speaker Pragya Rimal presented “Studying the collaborative care model using implementation research in rural Nepal”. In her presentation, she described the study protocol for the collaborative care model, introduced the COM-B (Capability, Opportunity, Motivation-Behavior) framework, shared some implementation challenges, and then discussed the study results. Some challenges they faced were: the newness to a team-based culture and emergency case consultation with the consultant psychiatrist for minor issues. The clinical outcomes of the study revealed substantial clinical response in 49% of the patients with depression. The intervention also created positive impacts in the capability, opportunity, and motivation of provider behavior. Overall, the model was successful in enhancing the perception of providers and delivery of mental health care.
After the presentations, participants asked their questions about the model which were answered by both the speakers. Some of the questions were regarding the cost-effectiveness analysis, sustainability, traditional healing, and quality of care.
The full webinar video can be accessed here:
