Impact of a Health and Mental Health Promotion Intervention Among Jordanians and Syrians.
Condition: Mental Stress; Hypertension; Diabetes
MeSH terms: Stress, Psychological
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      Given the heightened risk of NCDs and mental health issues, it is critical for Jordanians and
      Syrian refugees to have access to prevention based health services. To address this need, the
      following project seeks to examine the capacity of Primary Care Health Centers to provide
      preventive services to empower patients to manage NCDs and potential mental health issues for
      those who are experiencing distress.

      The primary research question in this evaluation study is:

      Does prevention-based health and mental health services in primary health clinics improve
      health status of Jordanians and Syrian refugees?

      This research proposal will consist of three study conditions examining:

        -  Condition 1: an existing NCD preventive intervention consisting of 24 sessions, which
           are 45 minutes covering diabetes, hypertension, obesity, reproductive health,
           cardiovascular diseases, allergies and smoking;

        -  Condition 2: The existing NCD preventive intervention with 4 added mental health
           awareness sessions covering traumatic stress reactions, individual strategies for coping
           with stress and traumatic events and collective strategies for coping with stress and
           trauma;

        -  Condition 3: Treatment as usual

      A group randomized study will be conducted in three clinics with patients of the respective
      clinics. The clinics will be identified prior to the study based on similar demographics,
      service utilization and staff capacity. Once the three clinics are identified they will be
      selected to one of the three study conditions. This research will be conducted in
      collaboration with the University of Illinois (UIUC), AmeriCares, and the Royal Health
      Awareness Society (RHAS) of Jordan. AmeriCares will work as the operational humanitarian
      organization collaborating with and providing support to RHAS and UIUC. RHAS's healthy
      community clinic is a community-based health project launched in 2011 conducted with the
      Ministry of Health (MOH). The project aims to build the capacity of participating Health
      Centers to provide better preventative services to empower patients to manage their diseases
      and reduce future complications. The Healthy Community Clinic, established within existing
      MOH facilities, provides medical practitioners with the training and resources necessary to
      implement management and prevention-based care to patients in underserved communities.
    


Intervention name(s): Healthy community clinic NCD+MH; Healthy community clinic NCD
Intervention type(s): Behavioral; Behavioral
Intervention description(s): NCD+MH Awareness Intervention Overview:
i. Patients are assigned, at minimum, one health awareness lecture per month with a total of 28 lectures possible ii. Patients attend lectures on specific topics given by MoH staff, mainly nurses.
iii. Topics tackled include: Diabetes, Hypertension, Asthma, Cardiovascular Disease, Reproductive Health, Healthy Nutrition, Smoking, Emotional Wellness, Stress Relief and Positive Coping.
iv. Group nutrition and physical fitness counselling are incorporated into most health awareness lectures; i. Patients are assigned, at minimum, one health awareness lecture per month with a total of 24 lectures possible ii. Patients attend lectures on specific topics given by MoH staff, mainly nurses.
iii. Topics tackled include: Diabetes, Hypertension, Asthma, Cardiovascular Disease, Reproductive Health, Healthy Nutrition, and Smoking iv. Group nutrition and physical fitness counselling are incorporated into most health awareness lectures
Allocation: Non-Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Intervention model description: Condition 1: an existing NCD preventive intervention consisting of 24 sessions, which are 45 minutes covering diabetes, hypertension, obesity, reproductive health, cardiovascular diseases, allergies and smoking;
Condition 2: The existing NCD preventive intervention with 4 added mental health awareness sessions covering traumatic stress reactions, individual strategies for coping with stress and traumatic events and collective strategies for coping with stress and trauma;
Condition 3: Treatment as usual
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Prevention