title: Task-Sharing Approaches to Improve Mental Health Care in Rural and Other Low-Resource Settings: A Systematic Review.
abstract: Rural areas persistently face a shortage of mental health specialists. Task shifting, or task sharing, is an approach in global mental health that may help address unmet mental health needs in rural and other low-resource areas. This review focuses on task-shifting approaches and highlights future directions for research in this area.
  
  
  
  Systematic review on task sharing of mental health care in rural areas of high-income countries included: (1) PubMed, (2) gray literature for innovations not yet published in peer-reviewed journals, and (3) outreach to experts for additional articles. We included English language articles published before August 31, 2013, on interventions sharing mental health care tasks across a team in rural settings. We excluded literature: (1) from low- and middle-income countries, (2) involving direct transfer of care to another provider, and (3) describing clinical guidelines and shared decision-making tools.
  
  
  
  The review identified approaches to task sharing focused mainly on community health workers and primary care providers. Technology was identified as a way to leverage mental health specialists to support care across settings both within primary care and out in the community. The review also highlighted how provider education, supervision, and partnerships with local communities can support task sharing. Challenges, such as confidentiality, are often not addressed in the literature.
  
  
  
  Approaches to task sharing may improve reach and effectiveness of mental health care in rural and other low-resource settings, though important questions remain. We recommend promising research directions to address these questions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington.
authors.forename: Theresa J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Hoeft
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington.|VA Puget Sound Health Care System, Seattle, Washington.
authors.forename: John C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Fortney
authors.affiliation: Centre for Global Mental Health, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Centre for Chronic Conditions and Injuries, Public Health Foundation of India, Gurgaon, India.
authors.forename: Vikram
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington.
authors.forename: Jürgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Unützer
mesh_terms: D003150:Community Health Workers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000592:standards*
keywords: health services research; labor economics; mental health; task sharing; task shifting