Effectiveness and implementation of pre-training interpersonal skills assessment of community health workers in South Africa to predict post-training competence in mental health care

Health workers with little formal healthcare training, known as lay health workers, can effectively provide mental health care to expand access to services in low resource settings, but not all lay health workers achieve adequate skill in mental health care delivery. Existing evidence suggests lay health workers’ skill in mental health care may be predicted by their interpersonal skills before training. Developing and testing a pre-training assessment of lay health worker interpersonal skills could help predict lay health worker skill in mental health care and, in the longer term, help align lay health workers with appropriate resources for training in order to maximize their effectiveness in mental health care delivery.

Location: Cape Town, South Africa; Funding: NIMH (1F31MH123020-01A1; PI: Rose)