Assessing mental health literacy of primary health care workers in Kenya: a cross-sectional survey
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Date
2021-06Author
Marangu, Elijah
Mansouri, Fethi
Sands, Natisha
Ndetei, David
Muriithi, Peterson
Wynter, Karen
Rawson, Helen
Type
ArticleLanguage
enMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Aim: To assess mental health literacy of health workers in primary health care services in Kenya.
Background: Mental illness is common in Kenya, yet there are fewer than 500 specialist mental health workers to serve Kenya's population of over 50 million. The World Health Organization recommends the integration of mental health care into primary health care services to improve access to and equity of this care, especially in low and middle-income countries. An important step to integrating mental health care into primary health care services is to determine mental health literacy levels of the primary health care workforce.
Method: A cross-sectional survey using Jorm's Mental Health Literacy Instrument (adapted for the Kenyan context) was administered to 310 primary health care workers in four counties of Kenya.
Results: Of the 310 questionnaires distributed, 212 (68.3%) were returned. Of the respondents, 13% had a formal mental health qualification, while only 8.7% had received relevant continuing professional development in the five years preceding the survey. Just over one third (35.6%) of primary health care workers could correctly identify depression, with even fewer recognising schizophrenia (15.7%).
Conclusions: This study provides preliminary information about mental health literacy among primary health care workers in Kenya. The majority of respondents had low mental health literacy as indicated by their inability to identify common mental disorders. While identifying gaps in primary health care workers' mental health knowledge, these data highlight opportunities for capacity building that can enhance mental health care in Kenya and similar low and middle-income countries.
Citation
Marangu E, Mansouri F, Sands N, Ndetei D, Muriithi P, Wynter K, Rawson H. Assessing mental health literacy of primary health care workers in Kenya: a cross-sectional survey. Int J Ment Health Syst. 2021 Jun 1;15(1):55. doi: 10.1186/s13033-021-00481-z. PMID: 34074318; PMCID: PMC8170792.Publisher
University of Nairobi
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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United StatesUsage Rights
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/Collections
- Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS) [10385]
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Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States
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