Mental health care during the Ebola virus disease outbreak in Sierra Leone.

Content Provider	Europe PMC
Author	Kamara, Stania Walder, Anna Duncan, Jennifer Kabbedijk, Antoinet Hughes, Peter Muana, Andrew
Copyright Year	2017
Abstract	ProblemReported levels of mental health and psychosocial problems rose during the 2014–2015 Ebola virus disease outbreak in Sierra Leone.ApproachAs part of the emergency response, existing plans to create mental health units within the existing hospital framework were brought forward. A nurse-led mental health and psychosocial support service, with an inpatient liaison service and an outpatient clinic, was set up at the largest government hospital in the country. One mental health nurse trained general nurses in psychological first aid, case identification and referral pathways. Health-care staff attended mental well-being workshops on coping with stigma and stress.Local settingMental health service provision in Sierra Leone is poor, with one specialist psychiatric hospital to serve the population of 7 million.Relevant changesFrom March 2015 to February 2016, 143 patients were seen at the clinic; 20 had survived or had relatives affected by Ebola virus disease. Half the patients (71) had mild distress or depression, anxiety disorders and grief or social problems, while 30 patients presented with psychosis requiring medication. Fourteen non-specialist nurses received mental health awareness training. Over 100 physicians, nurses and auxiliary staff participated in well-being workshops. Lessons learntA nurse-led approach within a non-specialist setting was a successful model for delivering mental health and psychosocial support services during the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone. Strong leadership and partnerships were essential for establishing a successful service. Lack of affordable psychotropic medications, limited human resources and weak social welfare structures remain challenges.
ISSN	00429686
Journal	Bulletin of the World Health Organization
Volume Number	95
PubMed Central reference number	PMC5710077
Issue Number	12
PubMed reference number	29200525
e-ISSN	15640604
DOI	10.2471/BLT.16.190470
Language	English
Publisher	World Health Organization
Publisher Date	2017-10-31
Access Restriction	Open
Rights License	This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution IGO License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/legalcode), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. In any reproduction of this article there should not be any suggestion that WHO or this article endorse any specific organization or products. The use of the WHO logo is not permitted. This notice should be preserved along with the article's original URL. (c) 2017 The authors; licensee World Health Organization.
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health