Rural Friendship Bench: A qualitative study in Zaka district, Zimbabwe.

Background: We piloted the Friendship Bench-an evidence-based, urban-area task sharing intervention for common mental disorders-in rural Zimbabwe. The intervention combines problem solving therapy with income generating activities. This study sought to understand the intervention's implementation in terms of acceptability, feasibility, and sustainability as well as local attitudes towards mental wellbeing in rural Zimbabwe.

Resilience and burnout of healthcare workers during the early COVID-19 pandemic.

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to significantly more healthcare workers (HCWs) experiencing burnout than previously. This burnout is strongly associated with low resilience. Addressing organisational stresses and the introduction of resilience training will help to reduce the proportion of HCWs experiencing this phenomenon.

Correlates of social support on report of probable common mental disorders in Zimbabwean informal caregivers of patients with stroke: a cross-sectional survey.

Objective: Stroke is a major global public health burden. Unfortunately, stroke invariably leads to functional limitations, consequently, most stroke survivors are hugely dependent on family members/informal caregivers in carrying out essential daily activities. The increased demands of caregiving negatively impact caregivers' mental health.

Mental health of people detained within the justice system in Africa: systematic review and meta-analysis.

Worldwide, people with mental disorders are detained within the justice system at higher rates than the general population and often suffer human rights abuses. This review sought to understand the state of knowledge on the mental health of people detained in the justice system in Africa, including epidemiology, conditions of detention, and interventions. We included all primary research studies examining mental disorders or mental health policy related to detention within the justice system in Africa.

The impact of social support on the health-related quality of life of adult patients with tuberculosis in Harare, Zimbabwe: a cross-sectional survey.

Objective: Tuberculosis (TB) is the second prime cause of mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa and remains a major worldwide public health problem. Unfortunately, patients with TB are at risk of poor mental health. However, patients who receive an adequate amount of social support are likely to have improved health outcomes.

Mental health in Zimbabwe: a health systems analysis.

There has been little external analysis of Zimbabwe's mental health system. We did a systems analysis to identify bottlenecks and opportunities for mental health service improvement in Zimbabwe and to generate cost-effective, policy-relevant solutions. We combined in-depth interviews with a range of key stakeholders in health and mental health, analysis of mental health laws and policies, and publicly available data about mental health.

"We Are Not Really Marketing Mental Health": Mental Health Advocacy in Zimbabwe.

Introduction: Few people with mental disorders in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) receive treatment, in part because mental disorders are highly stigmatized and do not enjoy priority and resources commensurate with their burden on society. Advocacy has been proposed as a means of building political will and community support for mental health and reducing stigma, but few studies have explored the practice and promise of advocacy in LMICs.

Methods: We conducted 30 semi-structured interviews with leaders in health and mental health in Zimbabwe to explore key stakeholder perceptions on the challenges and opportunities of the country's mental health system.

Lay Health Workers' Experience of Delivering a Problem Solving Therapy Intervention for Common Mental Disorders Among People Living with HIV: A Qualitative Study from Zimbabwe.

There is growing evidence supporting the use of lay health workers (LHWs) to address the treatment gap for common mental disorders (CMD) through task-shifting. This study looks at the experience of LHWs delivering a problem solving therapy (PST) intervention for CMD for people living with HIV (PLWH) in a primary health care setting. Semi-structured interviews of LHWs (n = 7) and PLWH (10) who received PST were carried out using thematic content analysis.

'Opening up the mind': problem-solving therapy delivered by female lay health workers to improve access to evidence-based care for depression and other common mental disorders through the Friendship Bench Project in Zimbabwe.

Background: There are few accounts of evidence-based interventions for depression and other common mental disorders (CMDs) in primary care in low-income countries. The Friendship Bench Project is a collaborative care mental health intervention in primary care in Harare for CMDs which began as a pilot in 2006.

Case Presentation: We employed a mixture of quantitative and qualitative approaches to investigate the project's acceptability and implementation, 4-8 years after the initial pilot study.

Validation of screening tools for depression and anxiety disorders in a primary care population with high HIV prevalence in Zimbabwe.

Background: In low income countries in Sub-Saharan Africa there are few validated tools to screen for common disabling mental disorders such as depression and general anxiety disorder (GAD).

Objectives: We validated three screening tools: the Shona Symptom Questionnaire for common mental disorders (SSQ-14), the Patient Health Questionnaire for depression (PHQ-9), and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder questionnaire (GAD-7). The study participants were attendees at a primary health care clinic in Harare, Zimbabwe.

Mental health training for health workers in Africa: a systematic review.

Commitment to building mental health treatment capacity in Africa is increasing but little agreement exists on strategies to train health workers on mental health or evaluation of training efforts. We systematically reviewed published literature on interventions to train health-care workers in Africa on mental health. 37 studies met our inclusion criteria.

'I was thinking too much': experiences of HIV-positive adults with common mental disorders and poor adherence to antiretroviral therapy in Zimbabwe.

Objective: To document the lived experiences of people with both poor mental health and suboptimal adherence to antiretroviral therapy in high HIV prevalence settings.

Methods: In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with 47 (female = 31) HIV-positive adults who scored above the cut-point on a locally validated scale for common mental disorders (CMDs). Purposive sampling was used to recruit participants with evidence of poor adherence.