MedTrace Logo

Feasibility and Acceptability of an Intervention to Support People With Severe Mental Illness in South Africa

NCT07339462 · Status: RECRUITING · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 86

Last updated 2026-01-14

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Despite commendable progress in developing mental health systems in low-and-middle income countries, critical gaps remain, particularly the development of community-based systems of support for people living with severe mental illness (SMIs). This application will pilot a co-developed health system strengthening intervention programme in a South African district in order to determine its feasibility, appropriateness and limited efficacy in reducing readmission following discharge from acute psychiatric hospitalization. By generating preliminary data on the real-world implementation of a co-developed programme in low-resource contexts in South Africa, this application seeks to build on an existing foundation of research partnerships and local government collaboration to develop a transitional support intervention that could yield significant and tangible impacts on people living with SMIs in low-resource communities.

Conditions

  • Mental Disorders, Severe

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Multilevel psychosocial support for people living with severe mental illness and their caregivers

The intervention is the product of a human-centred design process, involving a range of health system actors. The intervention entails 1) A revised, integrated referral pathway across tertiary, secondary and primary levels of care; 2) A psychosocial rehabilitation programme, introduced to multidisciplinary teams and nursing staff in specialist, regional and district hospitals; 3) A psychosocial rehabilitation programme, introduced to registered counsellors in PHC facilities; 4) Refresher training on management of severe mental health conditions for physicians and nurses in PHC facilities; 5) A community mental health education and detection toolkit and associated training package for community health worker outreach teams; 6) The Household Champion programme, a psychoeducation, empowerment and support programme to improve caregiver capacity for care.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Columbia University

    collaborator OTHER

  • Universiteit Antwerpen

    collaborator OTHER

  • Medical Research Council, South Africa

    collaborator OTHER

  • University of KwaZulu

    lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH
Masking
NONE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2025-08-01
Primary Completion
2026-06-01
Completion
2026-08-31

Countries

  • South Africa

Study Locations

More Related Trials

Entities

Companies

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT07339462 on ClinicalTrials.gov