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February 2021 | ICHAD & SMART Africa Monthly Monitor

Greetings from the ICHAD and SMART Africa Teams!

As our team in St. Louis is busy planning our upcoming conference (see below), finalizing the selection of the trainees for our upcoming summer training programs, and disseminating important research findings - with four new publications this month - not to mention dreaming of warmer days ahead, our in-country teams continue to be extremely busy with study activities. This includes qualitative interview training, participant recruitment, data collection, as well as testing and refining study instruments and manuals in preparation for the Suubi+Adherence-R2 study field activities.

This month, our Research Study Spotlight highlights the progress of the Say No to Stigma study. Please do not forget to checkout our open call for conference abstracts.

The ICHAD and SMART Africa Teams

5th Annual Conference on Child Behavioral Health in Sub-Saharan Africa, April 21-22, 2021

Registration is now open for our upcoming virtual conference, with the theme “South to South Collaboration to Strengthen Child and Adolescent Mental Health in Sub-Saharan Africa: Lessons Learned from SMART Africa Center.” The conference will bring together SMART Africa teams in Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, South Africa and the United States.

The conference will feature keynote addresses from WHO, UNICEF, and NIH representatives, as well as discussions among speakers engaged in fostering bi-directional exchange and learning among child/adolescent behavioral health researchers and policymakers from the Global South to inform sustainable and scalable programs and policies in low-resource settings.

We invite abstracts for poster presentations focused on child and adolescent behavioral health in resource-constrained contexts. Abstracts should be sent to Laura Peer by March 5th.

We hope you can join us in April!

Research Study Spotlight

Say No to Stigma - Making Mental Health Visible among School-going Children in Rural Uganda

“Say No to Stigma” is a pilot study funded by the Washington University Africa Initiative Pilot Grant Program. The study aims to develop a set of new, age-appropriate, culturally relevant signage and messaging around mental health and stigma to be used in Uganda’s primary schools. ICHAD Co-Directors, Drs. Ozge Sensoy Bahar and Proscovia Nabunya have partnered with Assistant Professor Penina Acayo Laker at the Sam Fox School of Art at Washington University in St. Louis for this study. Dr. Acayo Laker, an ICHAD Faculty Affiliate, is a designer whose work and research are centered around topics that utilize a human-centered approach to solving social problems. Under their leadership, the study aims to develop visual solutions through a set of extensive creative workshops informed by focus groups with children, school administrators and teachers from one primary school in the Masaka region of Uganda.

The study team recently completed a total of six focus group discussions with participating children and teachers/headteachers to explore their understanding of and experiences with mental health and mental health related stigma. Findings from the focus groups will be used to inform the workshops during which children will develop artwork and signages that will be used to increase mental health awareness and reduce mental health related stigma in school settings. Knowledge from this study will inform the development of a larger study to test the impact of messaging in school environments and children’s perceptions of mental health and mental health stigma.

“Muyogeyoge” Graduates!

Congratulations to our Uganda colleagues on their recent graduation! Raymond Atwemembere received his Bachelor’s Degree in Medicine and Surgery from Islamic University in Uganda; Francis Matovu received his Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration and Management from Uganda Martyrs’ University; and Ivan Menya received his Diploma in Business Management from Muteesa I Royal University. We wish you all continued success!

Newly Published Work

“Family economic empowerment, social support and sexual risk behaviors among adolescents living with HIV in Uganda: The Suubi+Adherence Study.”

In Press, Journal of Adolescent Health

Thembe Shato, PhD; Proscovia Nabunya, PhD; William Byansi; Ucheoma Nwaozuru, PhD; Moses Okumu, PhD; Massy Mutumba, PhD; Rachel Brathwaite, PhD; Christopher Damulira; Flavia Namuwonge; Ozge Sensoy Bahar, PhD; Torsten B. Neilands, PhD; Fred M. Ssewamala, PhD

“Identifying challenges and recommendations for advancing global mental health implementation research: A key informant study of the National Institute of Mental Health Scale-Up Hubs.” Asian Journal of Psychiatry

John A. Naslund, PhD; Jasmine Kalha; Juliana L. Restivo; Ishmael Amarreh, PhD;…Ozge Sensoy Bahar, PhD; Laura Shields-Zeeman, PhD; Fred M. Ssewamala, PhD…Soumitra Pathare, MD, PhD

“Predictors of depressive symptoms and post-traumatic stress disorder among women engaged in commercial sex work in southern Uganda.”

Psychiatry Research

Proscovia Nabunya, PhD; William, Byansi; Christopher Damulira; Ozge Sensoy Bahar, PhD; Larissa Jennings Mayo-Wilson, PhD, Yesim Tozan, PhD; Joshua Kiyingi; Josephine Nabayinda; Rachel Brathwaite, PhD; Susan S. Witte, PhD; Fred M. Ssewamala, PhD

“Strengthening system and implementation research capacity for child mental health and family well‑being in Sub‑Saharan Africa.” Global Social Welfare

Anne Mbwayo, PhD; Manasi Kumar, PhD; Muthoni Mathai, PhD; Teresia Mutavi, PhD; Jane Nungari, PhD; Rosemary Gathara; Mary McKay, PhD; Fred M. Ssewamala, PhD; Kimberly Hoagwood, PhD; Inge Petersen, PhD; Arvin Bhana PhD; Keng-Yen Huang PhD

Research Studies

ANZANSI Family Program

Diabetes-Associated Risk Factors

SMART Africa Studies

Kyaterekera Project

Say No to Stigma

Suubi+Adherence-R2

Suubi4Cancer

Suubi4Her

Suubi4STEM

Suubi4Stigma

Training Programs

CHILD Global Research Fellowship

LEAD Global Training Program

Researcher Resilience Training

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Upcoming Events

Mar 8-19, 2021

Academic Hive Research Bootcamp

Two-week intensive training on research writing, quantitative and qualitative data analyses, and R statistics.

More Info

Mar 23, 2021 | 12:30 CST

ICHAD/SMART Africa Speaker Series

Dr. Elvin Geng

Adaptive Strategies for Retention in HIV Care in Africa

More Info

Apr 13, 2021 | 12:30 CST

ICHAD/SMART Africa Speaker Series

Penina Acayo Laker

Additional details to follow!

Apr 21-22, 2021

5th Annual Conference on Child Behavioral Health

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Recent Events

ICHAD/SMART Africa Speaker Series

Dr. Susan Witte

February 16

Reviewing the Effectiveness of Combination Microfinance & HIV Prevention Interventions for Women Engaged in Sex Work

Watch Video

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Other Events, Funding & Training Opportunities

Month Capacity Building Connection

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Call for Papers

Global Social Welfare

IJERPH Special Issue

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Quick Links

Our Team

ICHAD News

SMART Africa News

2020 Annual Report

Publications

Donate

Notables

Rachel Brathwaite, PhD, RRT Fellow, co-authored “Impact of a family economic intervention (Bridges) on health functioning of adolescents orphaned by HIV/AIDS: A 5-year (2012-2017) cluster randomized controlled trial in Uganda” which will be published in the March 2021 issue of American Journal of Public Health.

RRT Fellows William Byansi and Rachel Braithwaite, PhD along with SMART Africa Co-Investigator and Global Fellow Ozge Sensoy Bahar, PhD co-authored “Predictors of depressive symptoms and post-traumatic stress disorder among women engaged in commercial sex work in southern Uganda” published online in Psychiatry Research.

Teresia Mutavi, PhD SMART Africa Global Fellow, co-authored “Strengthening system and implementation research capacity for child mental health and family well‑being in Sub‑Saharan Africa” published online in Global Social Welfare.

Husain Lateef, PhD, RRT Fellow, recently served as a panelist on the webinar Them & Me: Black Boys’ Mental Health. The webinar explored the intersections and mental health implications of unconscious bias, systemic racism, criminal (in) justice, and health inequity specific to Black Boys in America.

Simone Schriger, LEAD Trainee, co-authored “Using behavioral insights to design implementation strategies in public mental health settings: A qualitative study of clinical decision-making” in the January 2021 issue of Implementation Science Communications.

A Word from an

ICHAD Study Participant

“After attending Financial Literacy Training sessions, I developed a long-term financial goal. I am now able to pay my rent using savings from my matched savings account set up through the Kyaterekera study.”

-Participant, Kyaterekera Study

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