Objectives:
– To test the implementing an enhanced approach to addressing depression by primary health care providers in Vietnam
– To develop a full cluster randomized controlled trial of enhanced primary health care including of very brief standardized assessment of common mental health conditions, adherence to brief effective interventions when indicates and implementation of a supported self-management strategy that has been shown to be effective and also has the benefit of engaging patients, families, and communities in health promotion and illness prevention strategies
Position :
The project is conducted in Hanoi: Dong Da district and Thach That District with 7 clinical primary care and 3 polyclinics.
Research subjects: Patients with depression in communities
Sample size: 70 (7 patients per commune health facility )
Time: From December 2014 to June 2015.
Main activities:
Depression has been found to be a prevalent condition in Viet Nam. Although primary healthcare services are accessible in Viet Nam to the general population, there is very limited access to specialist services for common mental disorders such as depression. This research is a preparation for a subsequent project that would undertake a cluster randomized controlled trial of enhanced primary healthcare services for depression in Viet Nam
Basically, the trial implementation is based on the primary health care system in Vietnam. In particular, general practitioners, commune health workers, and other healthcare providers who work at the level of primary healthcare will be trained to use the questionnaire SRQ20, WHODAS 2.0 and supported self-management skills workbook. Patients will be examined depression-level by SRQ 20 questionnaire. If patients suffer depression, the WHODAS 2.0 questionnaire will be used to determine the impact of depression on their daily life and their work. Besides, patients are provided supported self-management skills workbook to control their depression. After a month practicing guidelines in the skills workbook, patients will be reassessed by WHODAS questionnaire 2.0 to evaluate the effectiveness of skills workbook. If signs of depression has disappeared and the score falls under 7, patients demonstrated good progress and are encouraged to continue the therapy; if the depression becomes severe, the depressant should move to higher healthcare level.
In addition, the online course will also be developed to provide an open data for medical staffs/ depressive patients and their family members to access easily.