Psychiatry Research EG

Background It is well established that the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region urgently needs to scale up mental health services and that a major barrier is a leadership gap including both mental health specialists who lack public health/planning skills and public health system leaders who are not trained in issues relevant to mental health. To address the need for capacity-building in mental health leadership in the MENA region, a 10-day course was developed and delivered to 43 participants from fourteen countries. Both quantitative surveys and qualitative follow-up interviews were conducted with the course participants. Results A positive impact was found on participants’ knowledge, motivation, and implementation. Participants reported the greatest changes in their ability to integrate mental health into primary care, along with changes in ability to plan, take leadership, advocate for change, and establish networks between and within countries and felt better able to use research to advocate for mental health services and training. Conclusion The course is an effective tool for developing leadership skills in the region and demonstrated that participants used the knowledge gained to implement change in their settings.