Feasibility and Acceptability of a Remote Stepped Care Mental Health Programme for Adolescents during the COVID-19 Pandemic in India

Kanika Malik, Tejaswi Shetty, Sonal Mathur, James E. Jose, Rhea Mathews, Manogya Sahay, Preeti Chauhan, Pooja Nair, Vikram Patel and Daniel Michelson ()
Additional contact information
Kanika Malik: Jindal School of Psychology and Counselling, O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat 13100, India
Tejaswi Shetty: PRIDE Project, Sangath, New Delhi 110030, India
Sonal Mathur: PRIDE Project, Sangath, New Delhi 110030, India
James E. Jose: PRIDE Project, Sangath, New Delhi 110030, India
Rhea Mathews: PRIDE Project, Sangath, New Delhi 110030, India
Manogya Sahay: PRIDE Project, Sangath, New Delhi 110030, India
Preeti Chauhan: PRIDE Project, Sangath, New Delhi 110030, India
Pooja Nair: PRIDE Project, Sangath, New Delhi 110030, India
Vikram Patel: Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
Daniel Michelson: School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9RH, UK

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 3, 1-18

Abstract: Remote mental health services were rapidly deployed during the COVID-19 pandemic, yet there is relatively little contemporaneous evidence on their feasibility and acceptability. This study assessed the feasibility and acceptability of a stepped care mental health programme delivered remotely by lay counsellors to adolescents in New Delhi, India, during a period of ‘lockdown’. The programme consisted of a brief problem-solving intervention (“Step 1”) followed by a tailored behavioural module (“Step 2”) for non-responders. We enrolled 34 participants (M age = 16.4 years) with a self-identified need for psychological support. Feasibility and acceptability were assessed through quantitative process indicators and qualitative interviews ( n = 17 adolescents; n = 5 counsellors). Thirty-one (91%) adolescents started Step 1 and 16 (52%) completed the planned Step 1 protocol. Twelve (75%) of the Step 1 completers were non-responsive. Eight (67%) non-responsive cases started Step 2, all of whom met response criteria when reassessed at 12 weeks post-enrolment. Adolescents favoured voice-only sessions over video-calls due to privacy concerns and difficulties accessing suitable devices. Counsellors noted challenges of completing remote sessions within the allotted time while recognising the importance of supervision for developing competence in new ways of working. Both adolescents and counsellors discussed the importance of working collaboratively and flexibly to fit around individual preferences and circumstances. Disentangling pandemic-specific barriers from more routine challenges to remote delivery should be a focus of future research.

Keywords: adolescents; mental health; remote intervention; stepped care; COVID-19; mixed methods; India (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/3/1722/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/3/1722/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:3:p:1722-:d:1039162

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().