mPareshan

mPareshan

Pakistan

Mental health issues are a growing concern in Pakistan, with a significant portion of the population being affected by mental illnesses. Mean overall prevalence of depressive disorders and anxiety is 34% in Pakistan.1 The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 24 million people in Pakistan need psychiatric assistance. Several factors contribute to the poor mental health of the Pakistan’s population, including poverty, poor access to education, limited access to mental health services, and cultural stigmatization of mental health issues. These factors can make it difficult for patients to receive the care they need and for mental health professionals to provide effective treatment.

To help alleviate these challenges, the Brain and Mind Institute (BMI) collaborated with dHRC to design and develop the mPareshan mobile application, aimed at providing mental health services in communities through community health workers. The application is part of a research project lead by Dr Fauziah Rabbani, Professor, Brain and Mind Institute and the Department of Community Health Sciences at AKU.

mPareshan Mobile Application

The mPareshan app allows lady health workers (LHWs) to screen community members for mental health diseases, provide counseling to community members exhibiting signs of signs of anxiety and depression and refer patients to appropriate health specialists, in case of more serious cases. The LHWs also use the mobile app to share feedback with the lady health supervisors (LHS) and study coordinators (SC) about the counseling sessions or referrals made to mental health specialists. Counselling sessions include psychoeducation, with audio and video clips, followed by breathing exercises and coping mechanisms to alleviate stress and anxiety.

A LHS module of the application helps LHS supervise the LHWs remotely while another module for study coordinators also allows them to access app information. The LHW shares her observations and feedback on the participant and the session, which are reviewed by the SC and the LHS through different modules of the mPareshan app.
Through the app, 25 LHWs, 14 LHS, and SCs were involved, and they were able to engage with 100 participants, delivering over 500 counselling sessions.

mPareshan Portal

The accompanying mPareshan Portal helps the research team at AKU manage field activities and supervise, edit, or view indicators for reporting.

The app’s web-based admin panel allows new records and details to be added and displays information about clinicians, registered parents, and their children.

The portal enables the research team to register LHS and LHWs along with new study participants; define user roles and access; and view and edit user and participant information. The portal also provides detailed information related to counseling sessions and referrals gathered from field visits along with geo-location and time stamps for activities conducted in the field.

1Ansari, I. (2015). Mental health Pakistan: optimizing brains. Int J Emerg Ment Health, 17, 288.

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