The impact of a mental health training program for primary health care workers in gezira, sudan

الملخص AR

Background : For the most part, primary health care (PHC) in developing countries relies on paramedical personnel.

The training of PHC workers in mental health care is a recent development in Sudan.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to describe the new training program in the central Sudanese state of Gezira, and to discuss its impact on the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of the PHC workers.

Methods : Participants were selected by the Ministry of Health to represent 2/3's of the total number of PHC workers in Gezira at the time of the study.

The program was designed to meet the requirements of the different members of the PHC team.

A pretest was administered to the participants at the beginning of the program to evaluate their knowledge and attitudes.

The program included lectures, discussions, seminars, and clinical rounds.

The facilities of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Gezira in addition to the facilities of the Ministry of Health were utilized to conduct the training.

Use was also made of PHC centers and of community health centers as training sites.

At the end of the program, the participants took a second test and were reassigned to their health areas.

One year later, the impact of the training program on mental health services was evaluated using a variety of parameters: administration of a post-test, focus-group discussions, interviews, and field visits organized by the supervisors to evaluate the PHC workers on the job.

Results : After the training program, 68% of the PHC workers were able to comprehend a link between somatic and mental disorders as compared to 10% before the program.

More health workers mentioned the types of psychotropic drugs available in health centers and indicated their uses correctly.

More of the workers favored some type of mental health work.

Conclusions: A training program for PHC workers in the preventive and curative activities of mental health care will help these workers to recognize mental health care as an important health concern and will play a role in the extension of mental health care services as part of the PHC services.