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. 2019 Aug;215(2):485-493.
doi: 10.1192/bjp.2018.300. Epub 2019 Jan 25.

Effectiveness of psychological treatments for depression and alcohol use disorder delivered by community-based counsellors: two pragmatic randomised controlled trials within primary healthcare in Nepal

Mark J D Jordans  1 , Nagendra P Luitel  2 , Emily Garman  3 , Brandon A Kohrt  4 , Sujit D Rathod  5 , Pragya Shrestha  6 , Ivan H Komproe  7 , Crick Lund  8 , Vikram Patel  9
Affiliations

Effectiveness of psychological treatments for depression and alcohol use disorder delivered by community-based counsellors: two pragmatic randomised controlled trials within primary healthcare in Nepal

Mark J D Jordans et al. Br J Psychiatry. 2019 Aug.

Abstract

Background: Evidence shows benefits of psychological treatments in low-resource countries, yet few government health systems include psychological services.AimEvaluating the clinical value of adding psychological treatments, delivered by community-based counsellors, to primary care-based mental health services for depression and alcohol use disorder (AUD), as recommended by the Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP).

Method: Two randomised controlled trials, separately for depression and AUD, were carried out. Participants were randomly allocated (1:1) to mental healthcare delivered by mhGAP-trained primary care workers (psychoeducation and psychotropic medicines when indicated), or the same services plus individual psychological treatments (Healthy Activity Program for depression and Counselling for Alcohol Problems). Primary outcomes were symptom severity, measured using the Patient Health Questionnaire - 9 item (PHQ-9) for depression and the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test for AUD, and functional impairment, measured using the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS), at 12 months post-enrolment.

Results: Participants with depression in the intervention arm (n = 60) had greater reduction in PHQ-9 and WHODAS scores compared with participants in the control (n = 60) (PHQ-9: M = -5.90, 95% CI -7.55 to -4.25, β = -3.68, 95% CI -5.68 to -1.67, P < 0.001, Cohen's d = 0.66; WHODAS: M = -12.21, 95% CI -19.58 to -4.84, β = -10.74, 95% CI -19.96 to -1.53, P= 0.022, Cohen's d = 0.42). For the AUD trial, no significant effect was found when comparing control (n = 80) and intervention participants (n = 82).

Conclusion: Adding a psychological treatment delivered by community-based counsellors increases treatment effects for depression compared with only mhGAP-based services by primary health workers 12 months post-treatment.Declaration of interestNone.

Keywords: Nepal; Psychological treatment; effectiveness; low- and middle-income settings; primary healthcare.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Interest: The authors report no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Flow diagram of recruitment and follow-up process
Figure 2:
Figure 2:
Number of session per treatment arm
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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