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SARATHA

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Schizophrenia Assessment, Referral, and Awareness Training for Health Auxiliaries

 

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The Aim of the Study:


SARATHA, led by Dr. John Naslund (Harvard Medical School) and Dr. Anant Bhan (Sangath), aims to develop, and pilot test the feasibility, acceptability, and initial impact of a digital intervention for training community health workers, called ASHAs (Accredited Social Health Activist), in the detection and referral of patients suffering from Schizophrenia in Madhya Pradesh, India.



The Background:


Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) play a critical role in addressing gaps in access to healthcare in rural communities in India by serving as the bridge between communities and the health system. Leveraging task sharing offers new potential to reduce delays in the detection and initiation of treatment for persons with severe mental disorders, thereby addressing an immense unmet need towards improving clinically meaningful outcomes in this patient group in a lower resource setting.


The Project Details:

Structured into three concise phases, SARATHA embarked on:

Phase 1: Engaging with experts and clinicians to derive a training curriculum based on prevailing evidence for community health workers.

Phase 2: Digitization of this curriculum for a smartphone application, refined through design workshops and discussions with community health workers and those affected by schizophrenia.

Phase 3: Pilot testing the digital training module for feasibility and acceptability among community health workers.

The outcome of SARATHA highlighted the potential of digital solutions to empower community health workers, enabling early schizophrenia detection and referral in India's rural settings. This venture contributes to the broader goal of enhancing treatment pathways for schizophrenia in under-resourced areas.

Supporters and Project Duration:
 

This initiative was supported by the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation, with the study period spanning from 2020 to 2022.

To read more about the project visit: SARATHA | Sangath

 

Investigators and Team Members:


Dr John Naslund, Project Investigator

Dr Anant Bhan, Project Principal Investigator

Deepal Tugnawat, Project Director & Co- Investigator

Azaz Khan, Director of Training and Intervention

Vidhi Tyagi, Research Coordinator