Topic outline

  • Introduction

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    Global Mental Health

    This course aims to provide an introduction to the public health importance of mental health in the global context with wide reference to low- and middle-income countries.

    The course covers:

    1. Basic concepts of mental illness such as what mental illness is; classification systems for mental illness and the major types of mental disorders;

    2. The influence of the social determinants of health; poverty, ethnicity, cultural factors, socio-economic factors and stigma on mental health;

    3. The public health significance of mental illness and issues pertaining to epidemiology and the global disease burden of mental illness;

    4. Contexts of relevance to the psychological health of communities within LMIC’s such as disaster situations, conflict and rural mental health;

    5. The need for integration of mental health and development goals;

    6. Gaps in mental health resources, treatment and research;

    7. Evidence-based approach to considering interventions aimed at improving mental health;

    8. How to design a public health intervention plan to improve a country's mental health.

       

    Welcome to this course. This is a much neglected topic that deserves a lot more public health attention than it currently receives due to the huge degree of psychiatric morbidity, disability and mortality incurred worldwide. Mental health issues universally concentrate amongst the poor and disadvantaged, as well as a strong gender bias towards women. There is much more that needs to be done to improve the lives and outcomes of those people who develop mental illness. The course aims to help you understand some of the risk factors, and size of the burden of mental illness and think about policies and interventions that can help tackle this neglected public health issue. By the end students will be armed to appraise the evidence base required to plan interventions to reduce the impact of mental illness.

    How to navigate the course. Click on the hyperlinks to access the various parts of the course. You will find links to a number of relevant readings in the sections marked resources. You are also invited to reflect on the issues identified in the presentations (click on the reflection links - you will then be able to see reflections of previous students and will receive email copies of those who post a reflection after you).

    Earn a certificate.There is a quiz in the final section of the course - if you pass the quiz and access the Resources and post a reflection in each Topic you will earn a certificate.

    This course was designed by Dr Sarah Carney and colleagues.

    Creative Commons License
    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

  • Topic 1

    Introduction to Global Mental Health

    Welcome to the first topic in the global mental health module.

    The key resources in this Topic should shape your thinking about the importance of this much neglected area of health care. In this topic you will be learning about basic elements of Public Mental Health including Mental Health of the Populations and Epidemiology of Mental Disorders. The Topic explores the gaps in mental health provision, research and resources and its interrelatedness with development goals.

  • Topic 2

    Health promotion and epidemiology

    This topic covers both health promotion and epidemiology of mental health disorders in low-middle income countries.

  • Topic 3

    Suicide - Epidemiology and Prevention

    This Topic demonstrates how suicide is a public health concern, and describe its risk factors and key methods of prevention.

  • Topic 4

    Evidence-based Interventions

    This Topic demonstrates how engagement with mhGAP intervention framework can help identify strategies to implement an intervention package in your setting.

  • Topic 5

    Planning and Implementing mental health interventions

    This Topic is designed to synthesise previous learning and experience and use an evidence-based approach to develop a plan for the implementation of an intervention to tackle a mental illness issue of public health significance in your setting.

  • Finally - take the quiz and earn a certificate

    You can earn a certificate if you have accessed the Resources page in each  of the Topics, and taken the Quiz in this section.

    Any feedback will also be most welcome.

    • quiz icon
      Quiz: Global mental health
      View Receive a grade Receive a passing grade
      Opened: Thursday, 1 August 2019, 5:09 AM

      Take this quiz: a mark of 7/10 will qualify towards a certificate for the course