By Bidya Maharjan | Program Development Officer
This report provides a qualitative assessment of a rural/urban community for the protection and promotion of mental health and well being following the 2015 earthquake.
The report seeks to assess the impacts that the 2015 Nepal earthquake had on the mental health and psychosocial wellbeing of Lubhu residents, a semi rural town in the Kathmandu Valley. We had a Masters student from Edinburgh University doing her intern with us who carried out the full research with Chhahari staff.
The investigation into how mental distress is expressed within a Nepali context and what formal and informal support sources exist for those experiencing mental distress – at a micro and macro level was carried out during this research. Through a culturally grounded, qualitative assessment, conducted via semi structured interviews and observations, we explored the immediate and mid term effects the earthquake had on psychological wellbeing from social determinants of health perspective. The overall objectives of the study into post-earthquake mental health and psychosocial support are as follows:
1.Using interviews and observations, identify the impacts of the 2015 earthquake on the residents of Lubhu in terms of: Overall mental health and wellbeing.The social determinants of mental health and wellbeing (including housing, livelihoods, social relationships and roles) in this community.
2. Using interviews and observation identify the positive, desirable sources of support available to residents of Lubhu in the 12 months following the 2015 earthquakes.
3. Critically assess any ongoing gaps or areas of unfulfilled need regarding mental health and wellbeing support in this community.
We spent time with community members, conducting semi-structured interviews. This allowed for the progressive development of early research questions through the lived experiences of participants and enabled the narrative data collected, to be directed by the participants’ perspectives. We were able to extrapolate trends from the emerging data and explore these within a wider narrative of post disaster mental health issues and existing psychosocial challenges in contemporary Nepal. We also interviewed mental health and social work NGOs as well as mental health professionals working in the greater Kathmandu with whom to speak with-in more detail- about specific themes emerging.
Our findings show that social support is fundamental in facilitating mental wellbeing and community resilience in the face of a disaster. The networks of social capital that exist at a community level can compound the negative effects of trauma and provide psychosocial strength to those that utilise them.There is however no single approach to promoting mental wellbeing and it must be understood as part of a larger and complex sociocultural phenomenon. Factors such as stigma, lack of understanding of mental distress and lack of funding to health services can all act to mitigate support sources.The impacts and suffering arising from the trauma of the earthquake have generated an increased need to establish and deliver effective mental health and psychosocial support to those who have been affected. This can be viewed as both a challenge and an opportunity: immediate assistance was needed as a matter of priority, but the need for longer term support for those suffering from the effects of trauma related to the earthquake, and mental distress in general, was clearly highlighted.Thus too was the need to restructure and develop the existing mental health care systems to create a more effective and encompassing structure, as well as need to de-stigmatise mental distress and encourage those experiencing mental distress to access support services.
Understanding the socio-cultural factors that impact on the attitudes towards mental health is inherently important in understanding the patterns of existence and utilisation of support systems and services.
The full version of this report can be provided upon request.
By Bidya Maharjan | Program Development Officer
By Bidya Maharjan | Program Development Officer
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can recieve an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser
