School Health Implementation Network: Eastern Mediterranean

Summary

Background

An estimated 10-20% of children globally are affected by a mental health problem. Child mental health has been identified as a priority issue by the World Health Organization's Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office (WHO EMRO). Following consultations with international and regional experts and stakeholders, WHO EMRO developed an evidence-based School Mental Health Program (SMHP), endorsed by WHO EMRO member countries, including Pakistan. The federal and provincial health departments in Pakistan made recommendations for a phased implementation of the SMHP in a pilot district. In the formative phase of this program, a number of implementation challenges were identified by the stakeholders. Broadly, these included the need to operationalize and adapt the existing components of the intervention to the local context and to develop sustainable mechanisms for delivery of quality training and supervision.

Informed by the results of a formative phase investigations, the SHINE scale-up research team adapted the SMHP (henceforth called Conventional SMHP or cSMHP) to address these implementation challenges. The enhanced version of the intervention is called Enhanced School Mental Health Program (eSMHP). Enhancements to cSMHP have occurred at two levels: A) Content enhancements, such as a collaborative care model for engaging parents/primary caregivers, strategies for teacher's wellbeing, and adaptation and operationalization of particular clinical intervention strategies and B) Technological enhancements which include adaptation of the training manual for delivery using an online training platform, and a 'Chat-bot' to aid the implementation of intervention strategies in classroom settings.

Objectives

The primary objective of the study is to evaluate the effectiveness of eSMHP in reducing socio-emotional difficulties in school-going children, aged 8-13, compared to cSMHP in Gujar Khan, a rural sub-district of Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

The secondary objectives are to compare the cost-effectiveness, acceptability, adoption, appropriateness (including cultural appropriateness), feasibility, penetration and sustainability of scaled-up implementation of eSMHP and cSMHP. It is hypothesized that eSMHP will prove to be both more effective and more scalable than cSMHP.

Study population

The research is embedded within the phased district level implementation of the cSMHP in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. The study population will consist of children of both genders, aged 8-13 (n=960) with socio-emotional difficulties, studying in rural public schools of sub-district Gujar Khan in Rawalpindi.

Design

The proposed study design is a cluster randomized controlled trial (cRCT), embedded within the conventional implementation of the SMHP. Following relevant ethics committees and regulatory approvals, 80 eligible schools, stratified by gender, will be randomized into intervention and control arms with a 1:1 allocation ratio. Following informed consent from the parent/ primary caregiver, children will be screened for socio-emotional difficulties using Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). 960 children scoring \> 12 on the teacher-rated SDQ total difficulty scores and \> 14 on the parent-rated SDQ total difficulty scores will be recruited and equally randomized into intervention and control arms (480 in each arm).

Teachers in the intervention arm will receive training in eSMHP, whereas teachers in the active control will be trained in cSMHP. Trained teachers will deliver the program to children in their respective arms.

Outcome measures

Primary Outcome: The primary outcome is reduction in socio-emotional total difficulties scores, measured with the parent-rated SDQ, 9 months after commencing intervention delivery.

Secondary Outcomes: Implementation data on acceptability, adoption, appropriateness (including cultural appropriateness), feasibility, penetration and sustainability outcomes will be collected from children, parents/primary caregivers, head teachers and teachers. In addition, data will be collected on self-reported Psychological Outcome Profiles (PSYCHLOPS)-KIDS to measure progress on psycho-social problems and wellbeing; annual academic performance; classroom absenteeism, stigmatizing experiences and parent-teacher interaction. Data on teachers' sense of efficacy and subjective well-being, and on the schools' psychosocial environment profile will be collected. All secondary outcome data will be collected at baseline and 9 months after commencing intervention delivery.

Outcomes will be analyzed on an intention to treat basis. The role of various factors as potential mediators and moderators eSMHP effectiveness will be explored.

Cost-effectiveness evaluation of SMHP shall be evaluated in terms of costs associated with implementation of eSMHP compared with cSMHP.

Conditions

• Behavioral Symptoms
• Behavioral Problem
• Emotional Problem
• Emotional Stress
• ADHD
• Emotional Disorder
• Depression, Anxiety
• Conduct Disorder
• Emotional Trauma

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

WHO School Mental Health Program

World Health Organization (WHO) School Mental Health Program (SMHP) is a manual based multi-component, multi-tiered and evidence-informed intervention for common mental health problems in school going children. SMHP is designed to be introduced into the normal classroom and school setting by trained teachers. The intervention has a universal component which takes a whole school approach that aims to promote mental health among all school children. It includes basic counseling skills for teachers, core values of mental health promoting schools and other health promoting efforts that impact upon mental health and can be administered to all students in school and classroom settings. The manual also contains targeted intervention strategies on anxiety, separation anxiety/ school refusal, post-trauma, depression, suicide, ADHD, autism, psychosis, conduct problems and substance use problems that can be implemented by teachers in classroom settings.

BEHAVIORAL

Enhanced School Mental Health Program (eSMHP)

Informed by the results of pilot implementation, a number of content and delivery adaptations have been made to the School Mental Health Program (SMHP) to address the implementation challenges to scale-up of program in Pakistan. The adapted version of the intervention is called Enhanced School Mental Health Program (eSMHP). Enhancements to conventional SMHP have occurred at two levels: A) Content enhancements, such as a collaborative care model for engaging parents/primary caregivers, strategies for teacher's well-being, and adaptation and operationalization of particular clinical intervention strategies and B) Technological enhancements which include adaptation of the training manual for delivery using an online training platform, and a 'Chat-bot' to aid the implementation of intervention strategies in classroom settings.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Liverpool

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Washington

  collaborator OTHER

• Pakistan Ministry of Health

  collaborator OTHER_GOV

• World Health Organization

  collaborator OTHER

• Institute of Psychiatry, WHO Collaborating Center for Mental Health, Rawalpindi

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

  collaborator NIH

• Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine

  collaborator OTHER

• Harvard University

  collaborator OTHER

• Human Development Research Foundation, Pakistan

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Atif Rahman, PhD · University of Liverpool

• Lawrence Wissow, MD · University of Washington, Seattle, USA

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

DOUBLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

8 Years

Max Age

13 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2019-10-07

Primary Completion

2021-06-30

Completion

2022-04-22

Countries

• Pakistan

Study Locations