Programmatic implementation of depression screening and remote mental health support sessions for persons recently diagnosed with TB in Lima, Peru during the COVID-19 pandemic

• Published in: Global mental health 2024, Vol.11, p.e59-e59, Article e59
• Main Authors: Contreras, Carmen, Cruz, Janeth Santa, Galea, Jerome T., Chu, Alexander L., Puma, Daniela, Ramos, Lourdes, Tovar, Marco, Peinado, Jesús, Lecca, Leonid, Keshavjee, Salmaan, Yuen, Courtney M., Raviola, Giuseppe
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: depression; Interventions; mental health; Peru; Population strategies; psychological first aid; tuberculosis
• ISSN: 2054-4251; 2054-4251
• DOI: 10.1017/gmh.2024.21

Few studies have explored a stepped care model for delivering mental health care to persons with tuberculosis (TB). Here, we evaluated depression screening and remote low-intensity mental health interventions for persons initiating TB treatment in Lima, Peru during the COVID-19 pandemic. We used the Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9) to screen participants for depressive symptoms (PHQ-9 ≥ 5). Participants with PHQ-9, 5-14 received remote Psychological First Aid (PFA) or Problem Management Plus (PM+). Participants were reevaluated 6 months after intervention completion. We then compared the change in median PHQ-9 scores before and after intervention completion. Those with PHQ-9 ≥ 15 were referred to higher-level care. We found that 62 (45.9%) of the 135 participants had PHQ-9 ≥ 5 at baseline. Then, 54 individuals with PHQ-9, 5-9 received PFA, of which 44 (81.5%) were reevaluated. We observed significant reductions in median PHQ-9 scores from 6 to 2 (  = 0.98;