Investigating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on recovery colleges: multi-site qualitative study.

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, mental health problems increased as access to mental health services reduced. Recovery colleges are recovery-focused adult education initiatives delivered by people with professional and lived mental health expertise. Designed to be collaborative and inclusive, they were uniquely positioned to support people experiencing mental health problems during the pandemic.

An integrated primary care service to reduce cardiovascular disease risk in people with severe mental illness: Primrose-A - thematic analysis of its acceptability, feasibility, and implementation.

Background: Cardiovascular disease among patients with severe mental illness in England is a major preventable contributor to premature mortality. To address this, a nurse and peer-coach delivered service (Primrose-A) was implemented in three London general practices from 2019 (implementation continued during COVID-19). This study aimed to conduct interviews with patient and staff to determine the acceptability of, and experiences with, Primrose-A.

Development of the UPSIDES global mental health training programme for peer support workers: Perspectives from stakeholders in low, middle and high-income countries.

Background: Peer support in mental health is a low-threshold intervention with increasing evidence for enhancing personal recovery and empowerment of persons living with severe mental health conditions. As peer support spreads globally, there is a growing need for peer support training programmes that work well in different contexts and cultures. This study evaluates the applicability and transferability of implementing a manualised multi-national training programme for mental health peer support workers called UPSIDES from the perspective of different local stakeholders in high-, middle-, and low-income countries.

Perspectives of key informants before and after implementing UPSIDES peer support in mental health services: qualitative findings from an international multi-site study.

Background: Peer support is an essential part of recovery-oriented care worldwide. Contextual factors have an impact on the implementation of peer support work. However, research has paid little attention to similarities and differences of implementation factors in settings varying by income-level and cultural values.

Peer support for frequent users of inpatient mental health care in Uganda: protocol of a quasi-experimental study.

Background: Reducing readmissions among frequent users of psychiatric inpatient care could result in substantial cost savings to under-resourced mental health systems. Studies from high-income countries indicate that formal peer support can be an effective intervention for the reduction of readmissions among frequent users. Although in recent years formal peer support programmes have been established in mental health services in a few low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), they have not been rigorously evaluated.

Diaspora and peer support working: benefits of and challenges for the Butabika-East London Link.

The International Health Partnership ('the Link') between the East London NHS Foundation Trust and Butabika Hospital in Uganda was set up in 2005. It has facilitated staff exchanges and set up many workstreams (e.g.

Evaluating the selection, training, and support of peer support workers in the United Kingdom.

This article describes the preparation, selection, training, and support of a group of people with lived experience of mental distress/illness and mental health service use to work as peer support workers (PSWs). The PSWs were recruited to provide support alongside conventional aftercare to service users discharged from acute psychiatric units in London, England. Training was delivered over 12 weekly, 1-day sessions from April to July 2010.

Training in the management of post-traumatic stress disorder in Uganda.

The aims of this study were to establish the feasibility and effectiveness of training Ugandan mental health workers in the management of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) based on guidelines from the UK National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). The Butabika Link is a mental health partnership between the East London Foundation NHS Trust (ELFT) and Butabika National Psychiatric Referral Hospital, Kampala, Uganda, supported by the Tropical Health Education Trust (THET), and based on the recommendations of the Crisp report (Crisp, 2007). The Link has worked on the principle that the most effective partnership between high-income and low- or middle-income countries is through organisations already delivering healthcare, that is, through the support of existing services.