The Indonesian Mental Health Act: psychiatrists' views on the act and its implementation.

Health Policy Plan

School of Psychology, The University of Sydney, Rm 448, Brennan MacCallum (A18), NSW 2006, Sydney, Australia.

Published: March 2021

AI Article Synopsis

  • In 2014, Indonesia enacted the Mental Health Act (MHA) to improve mental health services, but its implementation has been slow and unclear for local mental healthcare providers.
  • The study, conducted in Bali with 27 psychiatrists, identified four main themes regarding the MHA's impact on clinical practice, highlighting both the potential benefits and the challenges faced in its application.
  • While psychiatrists recognized the MHA as a positive step towards raising mental health awareness, they expressed concerns over its compatibility with everyday psychiatric practice, local beliefs, and unequal resources, suggesting that without proper support and clarity, mental health will continue to be a low priority.

Article Abstract

In 2014, the Indonesian government passed the Mental Health Act (MHA) to address the country's complex mental health situation. The implementation of the MHA has been slow, and little is known about how the MHA is perceived by mental healthcare providers within local settings. This study aimed to obtain insight into psychiatrists' views on the MHA, including on how it affected their clinical practice and on challenges of translating the MHA into practice. The study was conducted in Bali, and 27 psychiatrists (15 men and 12 women) participated in a semi-structured interview. Thematic analysis indicated four overarching themes: raising the profile of mental health, developing a shared understanding of mental illness, integrating psychiatric practice with other services and views on implementation of the MHA into practice. Overall, the psychiatrists viewed the MHA as a step in the right direction to improve mental health services and to create awareness at local and national levels. However, there was consensus that the meaning of the MHA's concepts of mental problems and disorders were not compatible with psychiatric everyday practice or their patients' understandings. As a result, many assumed that the MHA was targeted at government and policy officials. Furthermore, there was a perceived lack of clarity on issues relating to collaborating with other services and unequal access to resources among regencies that impacted on their clinical practice in a negative way. Moreover, a few psychiatrists raised concerns that local beliefs and practices were not acknowledged in the MHA. According to the participants, mental health remained a highly political issue and without national support, mental health would remain a low priority. In conclusion, insights into providers' perspectives contribute to developing an evidence-base that can inform the implementation process of the MHA in Indonesia, and possibly elsewhere, into local level guidelines and regulations.

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Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/heapol/czaa139DOI Listing

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