Repository logo
 

The Institute for Global Health and Development

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://eresearch.qmu.ac.uk/handle/20.500.12289/9

Browse

Author: search.filters.author.Hermosilla, SabrinaStart date: 2020

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Implementing sport and physical activity across each layer of the Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) pyramid for populations affected by displacement
    (Elsevier, 2025-06-19) Rosenbaum, Simon; Farello, Anna; Latimer, Kathleen; Vancampfort, Davy; Ventevogel, Peter; Richards, Justin; Warria, Ajwang’; Ager, Alastair; Bray, Maria; Snider, Leslie; Hermosilla, Sabrina; Clark, Jadranka Stikovac; Ferris, Jojo; Kurt, Gülsah
    Physical activity (PA) and sport are increasingly recognized as integral parts of mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) programming within humanitarian response, for people affected by forced displacement. Nonetheless, the programming and implementation of physical activity within MHPSS responses remains inconsistent and largely ad hoc.. In this Short Communication, our team of multidisciplinary authors including academics, and practitioners from disciplines of psychiatry, psychology, physical therapy and sport for development, examine the implementation of sport and PA more broadly, across each layer of the Inter Agency Standing Committee (IASC) MHPSS Pyramid. We demonstrate how PA can be implemented at each layer, to improve MHPSS outcomes in humanitarian settings. We outline examples of how PA is being implemented across the IASC MHPSS pyramid, from ensuring access to inclusive and enabling environments (Layer 1), to strengthening participation in community-based PA and sport initiatives (Layer 2), delivering targeted programs with intentional mental health outcomes (Layer 3), and providing specialized physical activity promotion within clinical mental health services (Layer 4). This Short Communication provides guidance for humanitarian actors on integrating sport and PA across each layer of the IASC MHPSS pyramid.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    A process study of early achievements and challenges in countries engaged with the WHO Special Initiative for Mental Health
    (BioMed Central, 2024-10-21) Ager, Alastair; Hermosilla, Sabrina; Schafer, Alison; Kestel, Dévora
    Background: There is increasing awareness of the importance of the transformation of mental health systems. Launched in 2019, the WHO Special Initiative for Mental Health seeks to accelerate access to quality and affordable care for mental health conditions as an integral component of Universal Health Coverage. Nine countries are currently engaged with the initiative. Methods: This study reviewed processes of implementation—and progress achieved—across all settings by late 2022. It involved review of 158 documents provided by WHO relating to Special Initiative activities and 42 interviews with country-level stakeholders, WHO Regional and HQ personnel engaged with the initiative, and core donors. Documents were thematically coded using a template based upon the WHO framework of health system building blocks. Responses to structured interviews were coded based on an emergent thematic framework. Results: Documentation reported similar achievements across all domains; however challenges were reported most frequently in relation to service delivery, leadership and governance, and workforce. Issues of financing were notable in being twice as likely to be reported as a challenge than a success. Interviews indicated four major areas of perceived achievement: establishing a platform and profile to address mental health issues; convening a multi-stakeholder, participatory engagement process; new, appropriate services being developed; and key developments in law, policy, or governance around mental health. The planning process followed for the initiative, senior country-level buy-in and the quality of key personnel were the factors considered most influential in driving progress. Ambivalent political commitment and competing priorities were the most frequently cited challenges across all interviewees. Conclusions: The role of the Special Initiative in raising the profile of mental health on national agendas through a participatory and inclusive process has been widely valued, and there are indications of the beginnings of transformational shifts in mental health services. To secure these benefits, findings suggest three strategic priorities: increasing political prioritisation and funding for systems-level change; clearly articulating sustainable, transformed models of care; and promoting feasible and contextualised measures to support accountability and course correction. All are of potential relevance in informing global strategies for mental health systems transformation in other settings.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Resilience and adjustment trajectories amongst children in displacement-affected communities in Zarqa, Jordan
    (International Society of Global Health, 2021-01-05) Hermosilla, Sabrina; Metzler, Janna; Savage, Kevin; Ager, Alastair
    Background: The experiences of protracted conflict and displacement are clear threats to children’s developmental progress. Understanding the factors that shape the trajectories of children’s well-being and adjustment in such contexts is important for informing interventions.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The Child PTSD Symptom Scale: Psychometric properties among earthquake survivors
    (2020-11-27) Hermosilla, Sabrina; Forthal, Sarah; Van Husen, Madeline; Metzler, Janna; Ghimire, Dirgha; Ager, Alastair
    Evidence for a single underlying factor structure of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in children remains elusive. We assessed the underlying factor structure of the Child PTSD Symptom Scale through exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) in 570 survivors of the 2015 Gorkha earthquake in Nepal. The EFA suggests that the three-factor DSM-IV model fit these data best. The CFA suggests that while the DSM-IV model adequately fit these data, the four-factor King model fit them better. There was no evidence of differential item functioning by age or gender, and internal consistency of the scale was high. PTSD (overall or by factor) was not correlated with functional impairment. Inconsistent psychometric results across contexts and methodologies suggest that our current theoretical conceptualizations and empirical models of posttraumatic stress are lacking. Future studies must both document the instrument properties to assure internal validity and cross-study comparisons and, bolstered by increased psychometric data and analyses, rework theoretical models of PTSD with improved cross-cultural validity.