Stakeholders’ perspectives on the development of an Africa-focused postgraduate diploma to address public mental health training needs in Africa: a qualitative study

BACKGROUND: Despite the significant contribution of mental health conditions to the burden of disease, there is insufficient evidence from Africa to inform policy, planning and service delivery. Thus, there is a need for mental health research capacity building, led by African public mental health researchers and practitioners, to drive local research priorities. The aim of African mental health Researchers Inspired and Equipped (ARISE) was to develop a one-year postgraduate diploma (PGDip) in public mental health to address the current gaps in public mental health training. METHODS: Thirty-six individual interviews were conducted online with three groups of participants: course convenors of related PGDips in South Africa, course convenors of international public mental health degree programmes and stakeholders active in public mental health in Africa. The interviewers elicited information regarding: programme delivery, training needs in African public mental health, and experiences of facilitators, barriers and solutions to successful implementation. The transcribed interviews were analysed by two coders using thematic analysis. RESULTS: Participants found the Africa-focused PGDip programme acceptable with the potential to address public mental health research and operational capacity gaps in Africa. Participants provided several recommendations for the PGDip, including that: (i) the programme be guided by the principles of human rights, social justice, diversity and inclusivity; (ii) the content reflect African public mental health needs; (iii) PGDip faculty be skilled in teaching and developing material for online courses and (iv) the PGDip be designed as a fully online or blended learning programme in collaboration with learning designers. CONCLUSIONS: The study findings provided valuable insight into how to communicate key principles and skills suited to the rapidly developing public mental health field while keeping pace with changes in higher education. The information elicited has informed curriculum design, implementation and quality improvement strategies for the new postgraduate public mental health programme.