In West Africa, most people with serious mental illness receive care from traditional or faith healers at prayer camps. The stepped-wedge cluster randomized trial aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a dual-pronged intervention package comprised of a mobile health program designed to train healers to deliver evidence-based psychosocial interventions combined with pharmacotherapy delivered directly to the patients at their prayer camps via a visiting nurse in Ghana.
Aged 18 years or older
Speaks Twi or English
Current inpatient staying at a study prayer camp
A diagnosis of psychosis, mania, or depression
Serious physical illness or in need of urgent medical attention
Crossover
mHealer
BehavioralMHealer is a software application installed on smartphones that provides psychosocial treatment support and patient condition tracking.
Psychiatric symptoms
Change in psychiatric symptoms of study participants as measured by the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale
Depressive symptoms
Change in depressive symptoms of participants as measured by the Patient Health Questionnaire-9
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University of Washington
Lead sponsor
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Collaborator
