“Not shifting, but sharing”: stakeholders' perspectives on mental health task-shifting in Indonesia

• DOI: 10.1186/s12912-022-00945-8
• Publication Date: 2022-06-24T10:03:51Z
• Authors: Ferry Efendi; Gading Ekapuja Au...; Ah Yusuf; Lisa McKenna
• Keywords: Health worker; Research; RT1-120; Nurses; Health sciences; Nursing; FOS: Health sciences; Primary care; Midwifery; 3. Good health; 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; Health services and systems; Mental health; Psychiatrists

AbstractBackgroundTask-shifting, the distribution of tasks among health workers to address health workforce shortage, has been widely used to tackle mental health treatment gaps. However, its implementation in Indonesia has still been rarely explored. This study aimed to explore stakeholders’ perspectives on the implementation of mental health task-shifting to nurses in Indonesia's primary health care.MethodsAn exploratory descriptive approach using in-depth interviews and focused group discussions (FGDs) was used. The study involved 19 stakeholders from the government's ministry directorates, professional organisations, and mental health practitioners. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data.ResultsThree themes emerged namely, task-shifting feasibility and acceptability, shared task implementation, and nurse role enhancement issues, with 14 sub-themes.ConclusionsTask-shifting on mental health issues in the eye of Indonesian stakeholders is viewed as a matter of sharing and collaboration. Implementation of task-shifting in Indonesia may require policies in place and political will across stakeholders. Further scrutiny on task-shifting implementation is needed by considering the local context and national environment.