AUTHOR=Lee Catherine , Schojan Matthew , Myo Ko , Doe Gyaw Htet , San Lanau Htu , Bass Judith 

TITLE=Implementation of a Community-Based Psychosocial Support Focal Point Response for Internally Displaced Persons in Myanmar During COVID-19

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health

VOLUME=Volume 10 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2022.854490

DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2022.854490

ISSN=2296-2565

ABSTRACT=In response to COVID-19, the Global Mental Health research group at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health worked with local partner organizations in Myanmar to redesign and adapt existing materials from an ongoing Common Elements Treatment Approach (CETA) mental health program to provide community-based supports for internally-displaced populations (IDPs) living in camps that had, due to travel restrictions, no mental health services located within their communities. Local counselors provided telephone-based services to the isolated communities with people who resided in the camps functioning as psychosocial support (PSS) focal points. In April 2020, 3 local organizations with existing mental health counseling services recruited and trained PSS focal points in 25 IDP camps to establish a multi-tiered system of MHPSS supports.  

The PSS program including psychoeducation handouts focused on stress and coping during COVID-19 and skills for cognitive restructuring in simplified terms, audio recordings of the content of these handouts and referral opportunities for telephone-based services by CETA counselors located outside of the camps.  Focal points  distributed the handouts, had the recordings played via radio and loudspeaker, and were available to answer questions and provide access to a PSS program phones to connect with the CETA counselors. After 6 months of implementation, program monitoring logs were reviewed and a cross-sectional evaluation was conducted to assess the program’s reach, understanding, and perceived utility.  

Forty-one focal points implemented the program in 25 IDP camps in Kachin and northern Shan States. From May to September 2020, the focal points distributed the handouts to 5,725 households and reported 679 visits by IDPs, including facilitating 332 calls to a CETA counselor.

Data from the program evaluation (n=793 participants) found high levels of handout readership and perceived utility of the information, and good comprehension of the content and application of skills. 

Findings suggest that provision of a multi-tiered MHPSS program was feasible despite the constraints of the pandemic and that utilizing camp-based focal points was acceptable and successful in delivering basic psychosocial supports to a broad population while serving as points of contact for individuals who wanted and needed telephone-based counseling services.