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The effectiveness of problem solving therapy in deprived South African communities: results from a pilot study

BACKGROUND: The majority of South Africans with a DSM-IV diagnosis receive no treatment for their mental health problems. There is a move to simplify treatment for common mental disorders (CMDs) in order to ease access. Brief problem solving therapy (PST) might fill the treatment gap for CMD's...

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Autores principales: van't Hof, Edith, Stein, Dan J, Marks, Isaac, Tomlinson, Mark, Cuijpers, Pim
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2011
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3201896/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21961801
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-244X-11-156
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author van't Hof, Edith
Stein, Dan J
Marks, Isaac
Tomlinson, Mark
Cuijpers, Pim
author_facet van't Hof, Edith
Stein, Dan J
Marks, Isaac
Tomlinson, Mark
Cuijpers, Pim
author_sort van't Hof, Edith
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: The majority of South Africans with a DSM-IV diagnosis receive no treatment for their mental health problems. There is a move to simplify treatment for common mental disorders (CMDs) in order to ease access. Brief problem solving therapy (PST) might fill the treatment gap for CMD's in deprived communities in South Africa. This pilot study evaluates the feasibility, acceptability and effectiveness of this PST program for CMD's in deprived communities around Cape Town. METHODS: A Dutch problem solving program was adapted and translated into English, Xhosa and Afrikaans and thereafter implemented in townships around Cape Town. An initial attempt to recruit participants for online PST proved difficult, and so the program was adapted to a booklet format. Volunteers experiencing psychological distress were invited to participate in the either individually or group delivered 5-week during self-help program. To evaluate the effectiveness, psychological distress was administered through self-report questionnaires. After completion of the intervention participants also rated the program on various acceptability aspects. RESULTS: Of 103 participants, 73 completed 5 weeks of brief PST in a booklet/workshop format. There were significantly more dropouts in those who used the booklet individually than in the group. Psychological distress measured on the K-10 and SRQ fell significantly and the program was evaluated positively. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that brief problem solving in a booklet/workshop format may be an effective, feasible and acceptable short-term treatment for people with CMD's in deprived communities. In this setting, group delivery of PST had lower drop-out rates than individual delivery, and was more feasible and acceptable. Randomized controlled trials are needed to evaluate the effect of brief self-help PST more rigorously.
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spelling pubmed-32018962011-10-26 The effectiveness of problem solving therapy in deprived South African communities: results from a pilot study van't Hof, Edith Stein, Dan J Marks, Isaac Tomlinson, Mark Cuijpers, Pim BMC Psychiatry Research Article BACKGROUND: The majority of South Africans with a DSM-IV diagnosis receive no treatment for their mental health problems. There is a move to simplify treatment for common mental disorders (CMDs) in order to ease access. Brief problem solving therapy (PST) might fill the treatment gap for CMD's in deprived communities in South Africa. This pilot study evaluates the feasibility, acceptability and effectiveness of this PST program for CMD's in deprived communities around Cape Town. METHODS: A Dutch problem solving program was adapted and translated into English, Xhosa and Afrikaans and thereafter implemented in townships around Cape Town. An initial attempt to recruit participants for online PST proved difficult, and so the program was adapted to a booklet format. Volunteers experiencing psychological distress were invited to participate in the either individually or group delivered 5-week during self-help program. To evaluate the effectiveness, psychological distress was administered through self-report questionnaires. After completion of the intervention participants also rated the program on various acceptability aspects. RESULTS: Of 103 participants, 73 completed 5 weeks of brief PST in a booklet/workshop format. There were significantly more dropouts in those who used the booklet individually than in the group. Psychological distress measured on the K-10 and SRQ fell significantly and the program was evaluated positively. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that brief problem solving in a booklet/workshop format may be an effective, feasible and acceptable short-term treatment for people with CMD's in deprived communities. In this setting, group delivery of PST had lower drop-out rates than individual delivery, and was more feasible and acceptable. Randomized controlled trials are needed to evaluate the effect of brief self-help PST more rigorously. BioMed Central 2011-09-30 /pmc/articles/PMC3201896/ /pubmed/21961801 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-244X-11-156 Text en Copyright ©2011 van't Hof et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Article
van't Hof, Edith
Stein, Dan J
Marks, Isaac
Tomlinson, Mark
Cuijpers, Pim
The effectiveness of problem solving therapy in deprived South African communities: results from a pilot study
title The effectiveness of problem solving therapy in deprived South African communities: results from a pilot study
title_full The effectiveness of problem solving therapy in deprived South African communities: results from a pilot study
title_fullStr The effectiveness of problem solving therapy in deprived South African communities: results from a pilot study
title_full_unstemmed The effectiveness of problem solving therapy in deprived South African communities: results from a pilot study
title_short The effectiveness of problem solving therapy in deprived South African communities: results from a pilot study
title_sort effectiveness of problem solving therapy in deprived south african communities: results from a pilot study
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3201896/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21961801
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-244X-11-156
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