APS Intercultural Grant recipients promote psychology around the world

Reducing stigma and strengthening science

Each year, the APS Grant for Intercultural and/or International Projects supports innovative social impact-based projects with an intercultural and/or international focus. It helps fund successful projects that maintain links between the APS, members and psychology, alongside psychologists and community groups in developing countries or under-resourced communities, and in countries where psychology is an emerging discipline. Two of our most recent recipients share their intercultural grant journeys with us.

Dr Triet Pham

Project: Brief Behavioural Parent Training for Vietnamese parents (BBPTViet)

Since leading the psychology department at the Children’s Hospital 1(CH1) in Ho Chi Minh City in 2011, I wanted to provide scientifically proven mental health care for children in Vietnam. Although there is considerable need for mental health care for children and adolescents in Vietnam, the current services are still inadequate, especially psychology interventions for children under six.

A large number of children in the country are treated with psychiatric medication or psychological therapies which are out-of-date or not evidence-based. In my opinion, the country lacks qualified mental health professionals and evidence of non-pharmacological treatments. I decided, therefore, to undertake a PhD at the Research School of Psychology at The Australian National University to learn about the latest in evidence-based psychotherapy and teach this to professionals working in Vietnam. Under the main supervision of Professor Richard O’Kearney, and with assistance from Associate Professor Elizabeth Rieger, I have been able to implement the project Brief Behavioural Parent Training for Vietnamese parents (BBPTViet).

The project has two aims. First, to build capacity for professionals in child and adolescent mental health care, including assessment, intervention and how to implement studies in psychology. Second, to evaluate the effectiveness of an adapted psychology intervention for families of preschool children with disruptive behaviors.

I was thrilled to hold two online workshops on psychology intervention for professionals in Vietnam in July 2020. The focus was on the basic principles and procedures of behavioural modification. Twenty doctors and psychologists who were working at the psychology department at the CH1 and clinical psychology department at the National Psychiatric Hospital No.1 in Hanoi, and professionals who were studying at the Psychiatric Department of Can Tho University of Medicine and Pharmacy attended the classes.
Psychology department staff at the Children’s Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

During the training, we systematised behavioural modification approaches and discussed solutions for the patients’ problem behaviours the participants most often dealt with in their work. Due to the practical application of the workshops, we have been asked to run more training in the future. In 2021, we will offer at least two more similar training courses and one more advanced course to target more complicated issues.

After the workshops, I continued to run training sessions for seven doctors and psychologists in the psychology department at CH1 to prepare implementation and evaluation of the effectiveness of an adapted psychology intervention. The sessions focused on methods of assessment and psychology group intervention for families of preschool children with disruptive behaviours. The staff were also trained on how to implement a randomised control trial in practice. This training targets the participants’ capacity to conduct scientific studies in psychology in the future.

Besides building capacity for professionals, the project provides evidence-based psychology therapy to the community. With my follow-up and real-time support, two doctors at the psychology department at CH1 successfully implemented an offline training class for the parents of preschool children with disruptive behaviours in December 2020. The success of the implementation, and the praise from the parents who took part, strengthened staff confidence as well as their belief in the effectiveness of non-pharmacological interventions.

The project is ongoing. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has prevented parents from attending in person for assessment and training, therefore, the project has moved online. I’m currently offering individual short consultations for parents and running two parent training courses.

The APS Intercultural/International Grant has contributed significantly to the development of mental health care services for children and adolescents in Vietnam via the project BBPTViet. We were able and continue to organise training workshops on behavioural assessment and intervention in children, a topic that has not been introduced systematically in Vietnam for in-service professionals. Moreover, the grant funds us to use a standardised self-report measure – the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory to assess the behaviours of children in our trial. The project is ongoing, but we can be sure the grant will be used to develop mental health care as well as improve the relationship between the APS and professionals in Vietnam.

Dr Kate Murray

Project: Let’s Unite for Mental Health

In August 2019, a group of mental health practitioners from nine different African countries (Botswana, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Nigeria, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe) arrived in Brisbane as part of an Australia Awards Program on mental health. The group spent three weeks at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and another three weeks with partners at Stellenbosch University and the University of Cape Town in South Africa.

Through weeks of in-depth discussion and collaboration, the group generated plans and outcomes to address the most pressing mental health issues within their home contexts.

The group identified a history of neglect of mental health in Africa, with significant levels of stigma associated with people living with mental health problems in the African context.
The group outside The Trauma Centre in Cape Town, South Africa, 2019

The project, Let’s Unite for Mental Health, drew upon the work undertaken as part of the Australia Awards Program and targeted stigma reduction and a suicide awareness campaign.

It included initial collaborative activities for World Mental Health Day in 2019 targeting suicide awareness by developing a flyer to share within their networks. While in Brisbane, the group developed a plan for an anti-stigma video to promote within their home countries, wrote the script and secured APS funding for the project. It is the video that was supported by an APS Intercultural and/or International Grant.

The video drew upon the expertise of mental health workers, all of whom had mental health responsibilities in their home countries. The video script highlighted that all people may, at times, struggle with their emotions and circumstances, including mental health professionals. The video was designed to encourage people to recognise these issues not as a shortcoming of the person but as common experiences, and challenge commonly held myths about mental illness, while urging viewers to seek help if needed.

The videography was completed by a professional videographer in Cape Town, South Africa and edited in Australia. The video runs for just under two minutes reflecting an important message in relation to mental health awareness. The video’s closed captioning is available in seven languages (English, French, Malagasy, Ndebele, Shona, Swahili and Tswana).

The video Let’s Unite for Mental Health is available for international distribution here: https://youtu.be/VcAefxN5D64. Initially, the 2019 cohort and facilitators from QUT, Stellenbosch University and the University of Cape Town shared the video to their communities and professional networks. We are now developing a plan for the systematic distribution of the video as part of World Mental Health Day, organised by the World Health Organization (WHO) on 10 October 2021.

The video has potential to impact upon Africans living in Australia and internationally. The medium, accessible through popular social media outlets, is unique in its focus on mental health, conveys the message with authority in terms of representing mental health workers from a diverse range of backgrounds, and highlights stigma reduction as a global initiative with a view to promoting mental health internationally.

In addition to these ongoing plans, the collaboration with the 2019 cohort of mental health practitioners continues. A handbook regarding mental health in diverse African contexts is in planning with an aim to prioritise non-Western views and approaches to mental health. It is the hope that these projects can support much needed steps to increase representation within psychology and to welcome new voices to global discussions on mental health.