Investigating people-centred mental health care in Timor-Leste
People-centred approaches to mental health care are a recent influential paradigm in global mental health, and part of broader international efforts towards health system strengthening and sustainable development. People-centred mental health care characterises service users, families and communities as active participants in mental health system development. Despite the increased emphasis placed on people-centred mental health care in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), until this study, there has been no systematic investigation of the paradigm across sociocultural settings.
This mixed-methods study aimed to enhance understanding of people-centred mental health care in the lower-middle income country of Timor-Leste to inform the country’s ongoing mental health system strengthening, and identify implications for the paradigm in other LMICs
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Teresa (Tess) Hall is a PhD Candidate at the Nossal Institute for Global Health.
Prior to commencing her PhD, Tess worked as a Research Fellow in the Global and Cultural Mental Health Unit at Melbourne School of Population and Global Health. Tess also holds a Bachelor of Psychological Science with Honours from the University of Queensland, and a MSc Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Tess is interested in knowledge translation and conducting research related to inclusive development and health equity, with a focus on the participation of people with psychosocial disability and mental ill-health in community and national governance processes.
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Supervisors:
Dr Greg Armstrong Assoc/Prof Ritsuko Kakuma Assoc/Prof Lisa Palmer Assoc/Prof Harry Minas
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