Can a brief training intervention on schizophrenia and depression improve knowledge, attitudes and practices of primary healthcare workers? The experience in Armenia

Background: Although the World Health Organization has called for mental health services to be integrated into primary care, mental health remains in most countries, and especially in low- and middle-income countries, one of the most neglected topics in the training curriculum of frontline health workers. As a result, primary healthcare professionals leave medical and nursing schools with insufficient knowledge, and often with negative attitudes towards mental disorders. Aim: We investigated the effect of a brief training intervention on schizophrenia and depression conducted among general practitioners and nurses in Armenia. Methods: Training interventions were one-day, face-to-face, interactive workshops, including didactic presentations and discussions of case studies. We used a quasi-experimental design of the before/after type, to compare data on knowledge, attitudes and practices collected before and after the training sessions. Results: Mean scores for knowledge, attitudes and practices increased significantly (p < 0.001) among both nurses and GPs for both schizophrenia (111 GPs and 167 nurses) and depression (459 GPs and 197 nurses). Conclusions: Our experience suggests that a brief training intervention can result in significant improvements in knowledge, attitudes and practices among primary healthcare workers and could help improve mental health services.