title: Formative research on a teacher accompaniment model to promote youth mental health in Haiti: Relevance to mental health task-sharing in low-resource school settings.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Task-sharing with teachers to promote youth mental health is a promising but underdeveloped strategy in improving care access in low-income countries.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To assess feasibility, acceptability and utility of the teacher accompaniment phase of a school-based Teacher- Accompagnateur Pilot Study (TAPS) in Haiti.
  
  
  METHODS
  We assigned student participants, aged 18-22 years ( n = 120), to teacher participants ( n = 22) within four Haitian schools; we instructed participants to arrange meetings with their assigned counterparts to discuss mental health treatment, academic skills, and/or well-being. We measured student and teacher perceived feasibility, acceptability and utility of meetings with self-report Likert-style questions. We examined overall program feasibility by the percentage of students with a documented meeting, acceptability by a composite measure of student satisfaction and utility by the percentage with identified mental health need who discussed treatment with a teacher.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Favorable ratings support feasibility, acceptability and utility of teacher- accompagnateur meetings with students. The majority of students (54%) met with a teacher. Among students with an identified mental disorder, 43.2% discussed treatment during a meeting.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This accompaniment approach to mental health task-sharing with teachers provided a school-based opportunity for students with mental health need to discuss treatment and has potential relevance to other low-income settings.
authors.affiliation: 1 Zanmi Lasante, Mental Health and Psychosocial Service, Mirebalais, Haiti.
authors.forename: Eddy
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Eustache
authors.affiliation: 2 Department of Global Health & Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Margaret E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Gerbasi
authors.affiliation: 2 Department of Global Health & Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.|3 Department of Psychiatry, Tufts University School of Medicine and Baystate Medical Center, Springfield, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Severe
authors.affiliation: 1 Zanmi Lasante, Mental Health and Psychosocial Service, Mirebalais, Haiti.
authors.forename: J Reginald
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Fils-Aimé
authors.affiliation: 2 Department of Global Health & Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Mary C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Smith Fawzi
authors.affiliation: 2 Department of Global Health & Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.|4 Partners In Health, Boston, MA, USA.|5 Department of Psychiatry, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Giuseppe J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Raviola
authors.affiliation: 6 Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Darghouth
authors.affiliation: 7 Colorado School of Public Health, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA.
authors.forename: Kate
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Boyd
authors.affiliation: 1 Zanmi Lasante, Mental Health and Psychosocial Service, Mirebalais, Haiti.
authors.forename: Tatiana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Thérosmé
authors.affiliation: 8 Department of Psychiatry, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Rupinder
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Legha
authors.affiliation: 1 Zanmi Lasante, Mental Health and Psychosocial Service, Mirebalais, Haiti.
authors.forename: Ermaze L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Pierre
authors.affiliation: 1 Zanmi Lasante, Mental Health and Psychosocial Service, Mirebalais, Haiti.
authors.forename: Emmeline
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Affricot
authors.affiliation: 1 Zanmi Lasante, Mental Health and Psychosocial Service, Mirebalais, Haiti.
authors.forename: Yoldie
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Alcindor
authors.affiliation: 9 Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Grelotti
authors.affiliation: 2 Department of Global Health & Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.|6 Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Anne E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Becker
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D005260:Female; D006205:Haiti; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000628:therapy; D008603:Mental Health; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011446:Prospective Studies; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012572:School Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D057566:Self Report; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D013663:Teaching; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Task-sharing; access to care; mental health; school-based; teachers