Epidemiologic Methods in Global Mental H

Mental, neurological, and substance use (MNS) disorders are substantial drivers of the global burden of disease. The burden is particularly high in low-and-middle-income countries (LMIC) where over 80% of persons in need of MNS services go untreated. Yet for decades, attention to MNS epidemiologic research in LMIC was scarce relative to both psychiatric epidemiology studies conducted in high-income countries as well as infectious disease epidemiology studies in LMIC. Recently, however, the emerging field of global mental health has been recognized by international agencies, including the United Nations (via the Sustainable Development Goals) and the World Health Organization (via the Mental Health Action Plan) as major funding agencies, including NIH, CDC, and the UK MRC have followed suit in prioritizing global mental health research. 

As the field has emerged, challenges in how to appropriately conduct public mental health research in LMIC contexts have surfaced. Such challenges require the appropriate application of epidemiologic methods in order to accurately measure and describe MNS problems in LMIC and evaluate and implement intervention approaches. Epidemiologic methods to be discussed in this course include: complex survey designs to measure MNS prevalence in humanitarian and emergency settings; validation of mental health screening tools in the absence of a gold standard criterion among culturally diverse populations; evaluation of MNS intervention effectiveness using experimental and non-experimental designs; novel methods for assessing clinical competency and intervention fidelity of lay mental health providers in LMIC; and implementation science tools, designs, and analysis approaches for translating evidence-based interventions into practice in LMIC. 

The course is designed to complement Priorities in Global Mental Health (P6813), which provides a broad overview of priority issues in global mental health, and epidemiologic methods series courses (e.g., Quant Core Module / P6400, and Epidemiology II). The course is also designed to be practical in the sense that the intent is for students to learn the ‘how to’ of conducting global mental health epidemiologic studies in the field. Each lecture will apply a core epidemiologic method or concept (e.g., information and selection bias; survey, cohort, case-control, and RCT study designs; effect modification; and causal inference) to the field of global mental health. Through lectures, int