NDLI: Where is Batho Pele? The perspective of child and adolescent mental health service users in the Western Cape Province of South Africa

Content Provider	Springer Nature : BioMed Central
Author	Mokitimi, Stella Jonas, Kim Schneider, Marguerite de Vries, Petrus J.
Abstract	Background Mental health disorders of children and adolescents represent a key area of concern, yet child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) are neglected, especially in low- and middle-income countries. There is a clear need to provide services that are relevant to the needs of service users, but little research to date has explored their needs and experiences of services, or to identify their recommendations for service strengthening. In 1997 the South African Government introduced the “Batho Pele” (‘People First’) initiative in all public sector services, with the aim of putting the voices of service users at the centre of decision-making of policy development and implementation. This study sought to explore user perspectives about CAMHS in the Western Cape, one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Methods Using focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews, qualitative data were collected from purposively sampled CAMHS users (caregivers and adolescents) across the Western Cape Province. Data were entered into NVivo, and thematic analysis was performed by two independent raters. Results Results highlighted slow, inappropriate and unacceptable CAMHS at primary level of care, and lack of dedicated CAMH resources and staff rudeness at primary and secondary levels of care. Only one positive theme was identified about a new service initiative at primary care. Only specialist CAMHS (tertiary level) were regarded as well-organised. To improve CAMHS, users recommended that the processes and procedures should be restructured to become child- and family-friendly, separate CAMHS should be developed at primary and secondary levels, CAMHS should be prioritized to provide equitable services to young people with mental health disorders, and better communication and information, including formal psychoeducation should be provided to caregivers. Conclusions The data from this study provided very little support for the “Batho Pele” principles and highlighted a clear need for CAMHS strengthening in the Western Cape, and in South Africa as a whole. These findings may be similar in other low-resource settings and highlight the importance of putting “people first” by listening to their voices on an ongoing basis and at all levels of service and systems strengthening.
Related Links	https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/counter/pdf/10.1186/s12889-024-20662-y.pdf
Ending Page	11
Page Count	11
Starting Page	1
File Format	HTM / HTML
ISSN	14712458
DOI	10.1186/s12889-024-20662-y
Journal	BMC Public Health
Issue Number	1
Volume Number	25
Language	English
Publisher	BioMed Central
Publisher Date	2025-01-24
Access Restriction	Open
Subject Keyword	Public Health Medicine Epidemiology Biostatistics Vaccine Environmental Health Child Adolescent Mental health Service user perspectives South Africa Low- and middle-income countries Low resource settings Medicine/Public Health
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
Journal Impact Factor	3.5/2023
5-Year Journal Impact Factor	3.9/2023

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

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