Improving Mental Health Through Integration With Primary Care in Rural Karnataka

The prevalence of chronic non-communicable diseases, including cardiovascular disease (CVD), type-2 diabetes (DM), and common mental disorders (CMD), i.e. anxiety & depression, are increasing worldwide, including in India, where patients with CMD are underserved, especially in rural areas, due to both stigma and lack of trained providers.

Treatment of patients with dual diagnoses involves special challenges and, if left untreated, mental illness can contribute to non-adherence and worsened outcomes.

Similarly, lack of staff training in India's Primary Health Centers (PHC) can result in missed diagnoses, inappropriate treatment, and increased morbidity and suffering. A growing body of research suggests that some of these challenges can be overcome by integrating treatment of patients with co-morbid diagnoses, by using "stepped" or "collaborative" care models. Such integration may also help reduce the stigma of seeking mental health services.

We plan to address this need by implementing and evaluating a multi-level integrated intervention in collaboration with 50 Primary Health Clinics (PHC) in rural Karnataka using a cluster Randomized Controlled Trial (cRCT). Our approach is based on our team's previous clinical and behavioral research in this region and builds on a decade long collaboration between St. John's Research Institute and University of California San Francisco. This study brings together an Indo-US team of scientists and government representatives with expertise in treating and studying mental health, chronic diseases, behavior change, stigma, and in conducting large clinical trials in rural India. It also builds on the work by India's National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), which recently announced that it will add tobacco control to its agenda. If successful, this intervention thus has high potential for scale-up and sustainability.

The proposed intervention is informed by a Social Ecological Paradigm that articulates the relationship between social settings and health behavior. It uses behavior change strategies guided by Cognitive Social Theory. Patients in intervention PHCs will receive integrated collaborative clinic care by their physicians, a nurse case manager and consulting psychiatrists. They will also participate in 12-month community-based "Healthy Living groups," in which cognitive and behavioral strategies are used to target health promoting behaviors, such as increased activity, improved diet, adherence to medical regimens, as well as problem-solving skills, coping skills, and social support. These groups will initially be co-facilitated by a Master's level mental health professional and a trained lay community health outreach worker (ASHA) on a weekly basis for 3 months. During the remaining 9 months, the ASHA will conduct monthly booster sessions focusing on the maintenance of the acquired health-promoting behaviors. Patients in control PHCs will receive an "enhanced standard" care model, which includes providing referrals for mental health needs.