Within an existing Increasing Access to Psychological Therapies ( IAPT) service there was provision of psycho-educational groups for ethnic minority groups whose language and illiteracy skills prevented people from engaging in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.
A South Asian Women’s workshop has therefore been developed within an IAPT service in Primary Care. The South Asian Group was developed with the aim to:
1. Develop a culturally sensitive treatment group; where patients could feel that their ethnic, cultural and spiritual beliefs were understood by the group facilitator.
2. Address any language barriers or literacy issues that might prevent the uptake of group interventions
3. Encourage uptake by the South Asian community; particularly women from the South Asian community
The group offers eight, three hourly, weekly sessions using NICE/IAPT guidelines to deliver a group based intervention. The sessions are facilitated by two Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners and is run in Hindi, Punjabi or Urdu and Bengali. Principles of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy are taught through using cultural specific examples.
Pictorial diaries are used to simplify concepts of CBT to encourage engagement in treatment. The group relies heavily on group activities and crafts such as cooking sessions, hand massages and gardening to help improve mood.
Analysis of this group shows clinical and cost effectiveness with individuals reaching recovery (58% reached recovery) whilst also using fewer resources to reach recovery.
The recovery rates from the South Asian women’s group has indicated that by adapting the CBT model and ensuring measures are taken place to meet the needs of the south Asian community, they can engage with psychological therapy services. We therefore aim to inform GP’s, commissioners and other key stakeholders of the importance of investing time and money in training staff to deliver this workshop to increase access of the BME community into mental health services.
Awareness of this workshop is essential as it can be adapted and altered further to be used outside of primary care services and to other ethnic groups.
Conversations should therefore focus on how this unique intervention group can be taught and delivered on a wider, national scale to fill a much needed gap.
Saimah Yasmin-Qureshi & Tripta Sidhu For further information, please contact us on: [email protected]