Dissemination and implementation of evidence based, mental health interventions in post conflict, low resource settings

The burden of mental health problems in (post)conflict low and middle income countries is substantial. Despite growing evidence for the effectiveness of selected mental health programmes in conflict affected low resource settings and growing policy support, actual uptake and implementation have been slow. A key direction for future research, and a new frontier within science and practice, is dissemination and implementation which directly addresses the transfer of evidence based, effective health care approaches from experimental settings into routine use. This paper outlines some key implementation challenges, and strategies to address these, while implementing evidence based treatments in conflict affected low and middle income countries, based on the authors’ collective experiences. Dissemination and implementation evaluation and research in conflict settings is an essential new research direction. Future dissemination and implementation work in low and middle income countries should include: 1) defining concepts and developing measurement tools; 2) the measurement of dissemination and implementation outcomes for all programming; and 3) the systematic evaluation of specific implementation strategies.