Implementation of the Community Component of the Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP): A Scoping Review

Abstract

Objectives: To identify implementation variables and justify the use of the community component of the Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP). Method: The search was carried out in Cochrane, PubMed, Emerald, Scopus, Scielo, Redalyc and Google Scholar databases. Studies that analyzed the implementation of the community component of mhGAP were included, excluding those focused solely on the clinical component of mhGAP. Results: Out of the 726 records initially identified, only four met the inclusion criteria. The findings reveal that the evaluation of the community component of mhGAP has primarily been conducted in conjunction with other global and community mental health strategies, as part of multimodal approaches. Factors are recognized as key barriers and facilitators for the successful implementation of the program. Conclusion: The community component of mhGAP presents itself as a promising proposal to strengthen community-based mental health strategies. However, there is an urgent need to generate more evidence on the implementation of these strategies, particularly in terms of resource availability, long-term sustainability, and outcome monitoring.