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PRIDE

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PRemIum for aDolescEnts



The Aim of the Project:


PRIDE, a project led by Dr Vikram Patel, Dr Daniel Michelson, and Dr Kanika Malik (Sangath, India), was a five-year research program seeking to develop psychosocial interventions for school-going adolescents aged 11-19 years with mental health problems in India.


The Background:


With India hosting one-fifth of the world's adolescent population, the Premium for Adolescents (PRIDE) project was initiated to devise and evaluate a comprehensive set of scalable, evidence-based, transdiagnostic interventions. These interventions were aimed at addressing prevalent mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, and conduct disorders among school-going adolescents in India.


The Project Plan:


PRIDE was characterized by its novel approach, incorporating five major design innovations to ensure the effectiveness and reach of its interventions:

  • Practice Elements: Identification and systematic incorporation of evidence-based practices tailored to address common mental health problems among adolescents, contextualized to the local environment.
     
  • Delivery by Lay Counselors: Utilizing lay counselors for intervention delivery, capitalizing on evidence supporting the acceptability and cost-effectiveness of task-sharing models.
     
  • Stepped Care Architecture: Employing a resource-efficient, stepped care model that aligns with a progressive approach to mental health care delivery.
     
  • Digital Technology Utilization: Leveraging digital technologies to enhance the delivery, scalability, and engagement of interventions.
     
  • Adolescent Engagement: Actively involving adolescents in the co-design of interventions, ensuring their voices and needs shape the interventions.
     

PRIDE School Mental Health Architecture

The PRIDE program is structured into distinct steps to facilitate a comprehensive care approach: 

PRIDE's ongoing public engagement initiative, “It’s Ok To Talk” aims to enable a dialogue with young people around issues related to mental health through digital and community-based activities.The project launched a website www.itsoktotalk.in as a platform dedicated to encouraging young people to share their experiences of mental health.


The Impact:


PRIDE stands as one of the most extensive adolescent mental health research initiatives ever conducted in a low- and middle-income country context. Through its execution:

Supporters and Project Duration:


The Wellcome Trust, UK, provided funding for PRIDE, which spanned from 2016 to 2022. This period marked a pivotal chapter in advancing adolescent mental health care in India, showcasing the potential of innovative, scalable solutions to make a substantial impact in low-resource settings.

To read more about the project visit: PRIDE | Sangath, or write to Dr Kanika Malik at kanika.malik@sangath.in