PEERS

Project PEERS is based out of Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh and Goa, India. An initiative funded by Grand Challenges Canada.

Supervision is particularly relevant for Non-Specialist Providers (NSP) delivered treatments. However, the reliance on mental health specialists to supervise the NSP in-person is not scalable because specialists are not readily available and existing in-person methods are expensive, time-intensive and lack generalizable metrics. This is especially true in LMICs such as India where few mental health specialists are adequately trained in psychological treatments and available to provide supervision and where existing NSP face enormous competing pressures on their time related to other health care tasks to attend in-person supervision. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic places a further restriction on non-essential in-person activities.

Objectives: To assess acceptability and feasibility of the digitally-enabled, peer-supervision (intervention) on supervision attendance and completion of peer-ratings; effectiveness of the intervention on the reliability of the peer ratings; the impact of the intervention on NSP delivered therapy quality, and finally impact of improved therapy quality on patient outcomes.

Project Duration: July 2021 – July 2023

Expected Impact: This Implementation Research project generates new knowledge on digital peer supervision of NSP to deliver evidence-based psychological care to people with depression. The project findings would enable policymakers, researchers and implementers of similar settings to adapt the intervention to supervise the work of NSPs for quality delivery of depression care and other health care services.

Research Assistant Sangath, Bhopal

Deepti Dubey

Research Assistant Sangath, Bhopal

Deepika Gharu

Research Assistant Sangath, Bhopal