A learning health systems approach to scaling up an evidence-based intervention for integrated primary mental healthcare case finding and referral in South Africa.

Despite progress in the development and evaluation of evidence-based primary mental health interventions in low-income and middle-income countries, implementation and scale-up efforts have had mixed results. Considerable gaps remain in the effective translation of research knowledge into routine health system practices, largely due to real-world contextual constraints on implementation and scale-up efforts. The Southern African Research Consortium for Mental Health Integration (S-MhINT) programme used implementation research to strengthen the implementation of an evidence-based integrated collaborative depression care model for primary healthcare (PHC) services in South Africa.

Strengthening integrated depression services within routine primary health care using the RE-AIM framework in South Africa.

Integration of mental health into routine primary health care (PHC) services in low-and middle-income countries is globally accepted to improve health outcomes of other conditions and narrow the mental health treatment gap. Yet implementation remains a challenge. The aim of this study was to identify implementation strategies that improve implementation outcomes of an evidence-based depression care collaborative implementation model integrated with routine PHC clinic services in South Africa.

Implementation and Scale-Up of Integrated Depression Care in South Africa: An Observational Implementation Research Protocol.

Background: People with chronic general medical conditions who have comorbid depression experience poorer health outcomes. This problem has received scant attention in low- and middle-income countries. The aim of the ongoing study reported here is to refine and promote the scale-up of an evidence-based task-sharing collaborative care model, the Mental Health Integration (MhINT) program, to treat patients with comorbid depression and chronic disease in primary health care settings in South Africa.