Browsing by Author "Mwenge MM"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3

Competency-based training and supervision: development of the WHO-UNICEF Ensuring Quality in Psychosocial and Mental Health Care (EQUIP) initiative.
(2025-Jan) Kohrt BA; Pedersen GA; Schafer A; Carswell K; Rupp F; Jordans MJD; West E; Akellot J; Collins PY; Contreras C; Galea JT; Gebrekristos F; Mathai M; Metz K; Morina N; Mwenge MM; Steen F; Willhoite A; van Ommeren M; Underhill J; Socios En Salud, Lima, Perú; School of Social Work, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA.; SystemSeed, Dover, DE, USA.; School of Social Work, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA.; HealthRight, Kampala, Uganda; Vrjie University, Amsterdam, Netherlands.; University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya.; Center for Global Mental Health Equity, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA.; Department of Mental Health, Brain Health, and Substance Use, WHO, Geneva, Switzerland.; Center for Global Mental Health Equity, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA. Electronic address: bkohrt@gwu.edu.; University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.; Research and Development Department, War Child Alliance, Amsterdam, Netherlands.; Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Team, Child Protection, UNICEF, New York, NY, USA.; Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.; Amsterdam Institute of Social Science Research, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands; Center for Global Mental Health, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK; Research and Development Department, War Child Alliance, Amsterdam, Netherlands.; Center for Victims of Torture, Tigray, Ethiopia.; Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia.; CIDRZ; Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia (CIDRZ)
Globally, there has not been a standardised approach to ensure that the growing number of people who are not licensed clinicians but are delivering psychological interventions and mental health services have the competencies to deliver those interventions and services safely. Therefore, WHO and UNICEF developed Ensuring Quality in Psychosocial and Mental Health Care (EQUIP). EQUIP is a free resource with a digital platform that can be used to guide competency assessment. We describe EQUIP's 5-year development (2018-23) and the rationale supporting its contents and use. Development phases included establishing consensus for competency-based strategies; selecting foundational competencies; evaluating feasibility of assessments, role plays, and technology; piloting EQUIP when training non-specialists; and public dissemination and ongoing adaptations to increase scalability. From the public launch in March, 2022, through to March, 2024, EQUIP's digital platform has been used in 794 training programmes in 36 countries with 3760 trainees resulting in 10 001 competency assessments.
Improving inter-rater reliability of the enhancing assessment of common therapeutic factors (ENACT) measure through training of raters.
(2022-Sep-07) Mwenge MM; Figge CJ; Metz K; Kane JC; Kohrt BA; Pedersen GA; Sikazwe I; Van Wyk SS; Mulemba SM; Murray LK; Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, USA.; Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia.; George Washington University School of Medicine, Washington, DC, USA, Washington, USA.; Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, USA.; CIDRZ; Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia (CIDRZ)
BACKGROUND: As evidence supports task-shifting approaches to reduce the global mental health treatment gap, counselor competency evaluation measures are critical to ensure evidence-based therapies are administered with quality and fidelity. OBJECTIVE: This article describes a training technique for evaluating lay counselors' competency for mental health lay practitioners without rating scale experience. METHODS: Mental health practitioners were trained to give the Enhancing Assessment of Common Therapeutic Factors (ENACT) test to assess counselor proficiency in delivering the Common Elements Treatment Approach (CETA) in-person and over the phone using standardized video and audio recordings. A two-day in-person training was followed by a one-day remote training session. Training includes a review of item scales through didactic instructions, active learning by witnessing and scoring role-plays, peer interactions, and trainer observation and feedback. The trainees rated video and audio recordings, and ICC values were calculated. RESULTS: The training technique presented in this research helped achieve high counselor competency scores among lay providers with no prior experience using rating scales. ICC rated both trainings satisfactory to exceptional (ICC: .71 - .89). CONCLUSIONS: Raters with no past experience with rating scales can achieve high consistency when rating counselor competency through training. Effective rater training should include didactic learning, practical learning with trainer observation and feedback, and video and audio recordings to assess consistency.
Testing the validity of the AUDIT-C and AUDIT-3 to detect unhealthy alcohol use among high-risk populations in Zambia: A secondary analysis from two randomized trials.
(2021-Dec-01) Inoue S; Chitambi C; Vinikoor MJ; Kanguya T; Murray LK; Sharma A; Chander G; Paul R; Mwenge MM; Munthali S; Kane JC; University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine, Birmingham, AL, USA.; Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.; University of Zambia School of Medicine, Lusaka, Zambia.; Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.; Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia (CIDRZ), Lusaka, Zambia.; Department of Epidemiology, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY, USA.; Department of Epidemiology, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY, USA. Electronic address: sachi_inoue@hsph.harvard.edu.
BACKGROUND: This study evaluated the test characteristics of brief versions of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), the AUDIT-C and AUDIT-3, compared to the full AUDIT in populations with heavy drinking living in Zambia and compared differences in effect size estimates when using brief versions in clinical trials. METHODS: Data were obtained from two randomized trials of the Common Elements Treatment Approach (CETA) for reducing unhealthy alcohol use among adult couples and people living with HIV (PLWH) in Zambia. The full AUDIT was administered to participants at baseline and at 6- or 12-month follow-up. Sensitivity and specificity of the brief versions were calculated in comparison to the full AUDIT. Mixed effects regression models were estimated to calculate the effect sizes from the trials using the brief versions and these were compared to the originally calculated effect sizes using the full version. RESULTS: The AUDIT-C performed well at cut-off ≥ 3 for both men (sensitivity: >80%; specificity: >76%) and women (sensitivity: >84%; specificity: >88%). The AUDIT-3 performed best at cut-off ≥ 1, but with comparatively reduced validity for men (sensitivity: >77%; specificity: ≥60%) and women (sensitivity: ≥72%; specificity: >62%). Effect sizes were different by up to 52% using the AUDIT-C and up to 60% for the AUDIT-3 compared to the AUDIT. CONCLUSIONS: The AUDIT-C is recommended as a brief screening tool for community-based and clinic-based screening in Zambia among populations with high prevalence of unhealthy alcohol use. For research studies, the full AUDIT is recommended to calculate treatment effect.