Barriers and facilitators to mental health care: a systematic review in Pakistan

Choudhry, Fahad Riaz and Khan, Nashi and Munawar, Khadeeja (2021) Barriers and facilitators to mental health care: a systematic review in Pakistan. International Journal of Mental Health. pp. 1-39. ISSN 0020-7411 E-ISSN 1557-9328

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Abstract

It is well documented that there is a shortage of mentalhealth care providers, mental health literacy, and underutiliza-tion of mental health services in Pakistan. This systematicreview aimed to assess the available evidence on factors hin-dering and/or facilitating access to care among people withmental health issues, health care providers, carers, or anyother population group (e.g., students, teachers) in Pakistan.Thirteen published studies of barriers and facilitators inPakistan were identified through nine electronic databases:Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid Embase, Ovid Emcare, CINAHL plus,Proquest Central, PsycInfo, Scopus, Pubmed, andScienceDirect. Thematic analysis revealed that factors facilitat-ing access to mental health services were trust in the effect-iveness of mental health services and acknowledging theseriousness of the problem. However, factors hindering theaccess were financial issues/constraints, personal issues/otherpriorities, stigma, low mental health knowledge, side-effects/dissatisfaction from previous treatments, time and distanceconstraints, reliance on traditional/religious healers, and lackof social (i.e., family and peers) support/encouragement.Findings suggest the need for reducing barriers to andenhancing facilitators of seeking mental health services. Toimprove help-seeking, the focus of strategies should be onenhancing mental health literacy, lowering stigma, andincreasing trust in mental health services’effectiveness.

Item Type:	Article (Journal)
Additional Information:	9018/93173
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Barriers; facilitators; mentalhealth services; systematicreview; psychotherapy
Subjects:	R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA790 Mental Health. Mental Illness Prevention
Kulliyyahs/Centres/Divisions/Institutes (Can select more than one option. Press CONTROL button):	Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences > Department of Psychology
Depositing User:	Dr Fahad Riaz
Date Deposited:	20 Oct 2021 17:04
Last Modified:	20 Oct 2021 17:04
URI:	http://irep.iium.edu.my/id/eprint/93173

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