Accessible continued professional development for maternal mental health

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Abstract

Background

Changing global health and development trends have resulted in a need for continued professional development (CPD) within the health and development sectors. In low-resource settings, where the need for training and CPD may be highest, there are significant challenges for disseminating information and skills. There is a need to improve mental health literacy and reduce levels of stigma about maternal mental illness. The Bettercare series of distance learning books provides a peer-based format for CPD. We aimed to evaluate the Bettercare Maternal Mental Health book as a format for CPD.

Aim

The aim of this study was to determine whether the Bettercare Maternal Mental Health book significantly improves knowledge and decreases stigma around mental health for care providers from the health and social development sectors.

Setting

One hundred and forty-one participants (social workers, nursing students and health professionals) were provided with the Bettercare Maternal Mental Health book to study.

Methods

Before and after studying the book, the same multiple-choice knowledge test and the Mental Illness Clinicians’ Attitude Scale were used to assess cognitive knowledge and mental health stigma, respectively.

Results

Participants’ knowledge showed a statistically significant ( p < 0.001) improvement between the pre- and post-test results, for all six chapters of the book. However, participants’ attitudes towards mental illness did not show a statistically significant change between the pre- and post-test results.

Conclusion

We found that this method of learning elicited significant improvement in mental health knowledge for care providers. Continued professional development policy planners and curriculum developers may be interested in these findings.

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Most cited references 31

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No magic bullets: a systematic review of 102 trials of interventions to improve professional practice.

A D Oxman, M A Thomson, D Davis … (1995)

To determine the effectiveness of different types of interventions in improving health professional performance and health outcomes. MEDLINE, SCISEARCH, CINAHL and the Research and Development Resource Base in CME were searched for trials of educational interventions in the health care professions published between 1970 and 1993 inclusive. Studies were selected if they provided objective measurements of health professional performance or health outcomes and employed random or quasi-random allocation methods in their study designs to assign individual subjects or groups. Interventions included such activities as conferences, outreach visits, the use of local opinion leaders, audit and feedback, and reminder systems. Details extracted from the studies included the study design; the unit of allocation (e.g., patient, provider, practice, hospital); the characteristics of the targeted health care professionals, educational interventions and patients (when appropriate); and the main outcome measure. The inclusion criteria were met by 102 trials. Areas of behaviour change included general patient management, preventive services, prescribing practices, treatment of specific conditions such as hypertension or diabetes, and diagnostic service or hospital utilization. Dissemination-only strategies, such as conferences or the mailing of unsolicited materials, demonstrated little or no changes in health professional behaviour or health outcome when used alone. More complex interventions, such as the use of outreach visits or local opinion leaders, ranged from ineffective to highly effective but were most often moderately effective (resulting in reductions of 20% to 50% in the incidence of inappropriate performance). There are no "magic bullets" for improving the quality of health care, but there are a wide range of interventions available that, if used appropriately, could lead to important improvements in professional practice and patient outcomes.

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Antenatal depression and adversity in urban South Africa.

Thandi van Heyningen, Landon Myer, Michael Onah … (2016)

In low and middle-income countries (LMIC), common mental disorders affecting pregnant women receive low priority, despite their disabling effect on maternal functioning and negative impact on child health and development. We investigated the prevalence of risk factors for antenatal depression among women living in adversity in a low-resource, urban setting in Cape Town, South Africa.

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Mental Illness: Clinicians' Attitudes (MICA) scale-psychometric properties of a version for healthcare students and professionals.

Jheanell Gabbidon, Sarah Clement, Adrienne O. van Nieuwenhuizen … (2013)

There are currently no published scales to assess the attitudes of students and professionals across a wide range of healthcare disciplines towards people with mental illness. Secondary analysis from a randomised controlled trial (RCT) of anti-stigma interventions was carried out to test the reliability, validity and acceptability of the Mental Illness: Clinicians' Attitudes (MICA) v4 scale, a modification of the MICA v2 scale in a sample of 191 nursing students. The MICA v4 was found to have good internal consistency (α=0.72) and item-total correlations. Principal component analysis produced a five-factor structure and the scale had acceptable convergent validity. A group of students and professionals within the healthcare discipline (n=5) reported that the MICA v4 had good face validity and suggested its use with students and professionals working in non-mental health settings. The scale had low rates of missing data, good readability and took less than 4min to complete. The MICA v4 scale was found to be a reliable, valid and acceptable measure of foundation year nursing students' attitudes towards mental illness. It has the potential for use with students and qualified staff across a range of healthcare professions and is available for use from the authors.

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Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Afr J Prim Health Care Fam Med

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Afr J Prim Health Care Fam Med

Journal ID (publisher-id): PHCFM

Title: African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine

Publisher: AOSIS

ISSN (Print): 2071-2928

ISSN (Electronic): 2071-2936

Publication date (Electronic): 31 January 2019

Publication date Collection: 2019

Volume: 11

Issue: 1

Electronic Location Identifier: 1902

Affiliations

[1 ]Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of Cape Town, South Africa

[2 ]School of Child and Adolescent Health, University of Cape Town, South Africa

[3 ]Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, South Africa

[4 ]School of Public Health and Health Systems, University of Waterloo, Canada

[5 ]Institute of Fiscal Studies and Democracy, University of Ottawa, Canada

[6 ]Department of Nursing and Midwifery, Stellenbosch University, South Africa

Author notes

Corresponding author: Sally Field, sally.field@ 123456uct.ac.za

Author information

Sally Field https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7917-2598

Zulfa Abrahams https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7336-6009

David L. Woods https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1556-5154

Roseanne Turner https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3217-8757

Michael N. Onah https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2874-0743

Doreen K. Kaura https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8777-3628

Simone Honikman https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7045-5532

Article

Publisher ID: PHCFM-11-1902

DOI: 10.4102/phcfm.v11i1.1902

PMC ID: 6407441

PubMed ID: 30843415

SO-VID: 30a4671b-9b2d-4278-8a78-1c8c44fb8cdb

License:

Licensee: AOSIS. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License.

Accessible continued professional development for maternal mental health

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Abstract

Background

Aim

Setting

Methods

Results

Conclusion

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SciELO South Africa

Most cited references 31

No magic bullets: a systematic review of 102 trials of interventions to improve professional practice.

Antenatal depression and adversity in urban South Africa.

Mental Illness: Clinicians' Attitudes (MICA) scale-psychometric properties of a version for healthcare students and professionals.

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