Description
Introduction: Over 1 million young internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Nigeria are susceptible to depression and other mental health disorders. However, 9 out of 10 IDPs lack access to quality mental health services. Our study assessed the effectiveness of the Brave Heart mental health project, a community-based intervention that leveraged lay community counsellors to identify and deliver group-based therapy and psychosocial support on the prevalence and severity of depression among young IDPs in Northern Nigeria.
Methods: We conducted a one-group pre-test and post-test study design involving 83 young IDPs aged 13 to 24 who had mild to moderate depressive symptoms (screened using PHQ-9) and have lived in selected IDP camps in Northern Nigeria for at least a year. Young IDPs were put into groups and provided cognitive behaviour therapy, psychosocial support and problem-solving skills with trained community mental health therapists who delivered the 18-session long intervention using a structured curriculum over 9 months. Descriptive and inferential statistics (Paired sample T-test) was conducted. Ethical approval was obtained.
Results: Our findings indicated a a statistically significant mean difference of 5.95 (95%CI: 5.3 – 6.6) between depression mean baseline score (10.16) and endline score (4.2). This was statistically significant across the different age groups, gender, level of education, marital status, family size and family income. The percentage of people that had clinically significant depression at the baseline reduced from 100% at baseline to 31.3% at endline.
Conclusion: Our study highlights the potential for sustainable and scalable mental health interventions in LMICs using a task-shifting approach.
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