Graduate School of health and Medical Sciences

Interdisciplinary approaches to improving mental health and wellbeing globally
Provider: Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences

Activity no.: 3553-22-00-00
	Enrollment deadline: 04/09/2022

Date and time	19.09.2022, at: 09:00 - 23.11.2022, at: 16:00
Regular seats	18
Course fee	10,200.00 kr.
Lecturers	Wietse Tol
ECTS credits	5.20

Contact person	Annegrethe Hansen E-mail address: ahan@sund.ku.dk

Enrolment Handling/Course Organiser	PhD administration E-mail address: phdkursus@sund.ku.dk

Aim and content This course is free of charge for PhD students at Danish universities (except Copenhagen Business School), and for PhD Students from NorDoc member universities. All other participants must pay the course fee. Anyone can apply for the course, but if you are not a PhD student at a Danish university, you will be placed on the waiting list until enrollment deadline. This also applies to PhD students from NorDoc member universities. After the enrollment deadline, available seats will be allocated to applicants on the waiting list. Learning objectives A student who has met the objectives of the course will be able to: 1.Describe how their own PhD research project is shaped by the particular discipline in which they have been trained (self-relection) 2.Develop new research questions, methods and interpretations for their field of study, drawing from a wider range of scientific disciplines (expansion of own research scope) 3.Strengthen collaboration with colleagues from other disciplines, by applying an overarching social justice framework to their own field of study (interdisciplinary collaboration) Content Background The field of global mental health gained visibility with the publication of two Series of papers in the Lancet, in 2007 and 2011. The 2007 Series concluded with a call for action focused on reducing the mental health treatment gap, that is, the gap between the number of people with mental disorders in need of treatment and the number who actually receive treatment. This influential call for action focused especially on task shifting for mental health, i.e. the delivery of evidence-based treatments by people without a dedicated mental health training, working in non-specialized health care settings (e.g., primary health care, maternal and child health care, HIV/AIDS care). This attempt at building a shared focus for global mental health helped to unify a diverse group of actors, but also received critiques. Critique has focused on the relevance of applying ‘Western’ psychiatric classification systems and evidence for treatments to diverse socio-cultural contexts. In addition, critique has focused on the dominant attention to treatment. In addition to a focus on treating mental disorders, critics have argued that attention also needs to focus on the social conditions that shape (and are shaped by) mental health, such as poverty, gender-based violence, and social marginalization. Social determinants of mental health are inter-related in complex ways with mental health. For example, poverty is a risk factor for common mental disorders (e.g., depression, anxiety, traumatic stress), and in turn, common mental disorders are associated with risk for (further) poverty. The dynamic field of global mental health has been actively contending with these critiques. The 2018 Lancet Commission on Global Mental Health again calls for task shifting and the integration of mental health into non-specialized care systems, but it also argues for a dimensional approach to mental health (broadening the scope of the field beyond classifiable disorders to include positive mental health and distress) and advocates for the importance of preventive interventions, e.g. through action on the social determinants of mental health. More broadly, there have been calls to avoid getting trapped in polarized discussions to strengthen interdisciplinary action in the field of global mental health. Aim This course aims to respond to this call for strengthened interdisciplinary science and practice in the field of global mental health, by enhancing interdisciplinary competencies of future global mental health leaders. In addition, the course aims to strengthen a network of future global mental health leaders working across a range of academic disciplines. Approach The course intends to achieve this aim by: (1) exposing participants to research methodologies and evidence applied in current, state-of-the-art global mental health research projects - across a diverse range of topics, and (2) assisting participants with contextualizing their current PhD topic in a broad, interdisciplinary ‘wellbeing’ theory. This wider umbrella theory concerns the social justice theory developed by ethicists Powers and Faden (2006, 2019). This theory provides a broad conceptualization of wellbeing, including mental health, and places special emphasis on how different components of wellbeing interact, and how wellbeing components in turn are shaped by background social and economic conditions. Structure of the course The course will be hybrid, consisting of an 8-week online portion and a 4-day in-person portion. Online: The online portion will start with an introduction to the course, including introductions of participants, and a presentation of the rationale and methodology for the course (course leader Wietse Tol). Subsequently, the online portion will consist of six masterclasses with internationally renowned experts (Poverty and mental health: Janssens & Suleiman; Social integration and refugees: DeMarinis & Nordendahl; Climate change & mental health: Augustinavicius; Gender-based violence and mental health: Rees & Mbwambo; Political oppression and mental health: Giacaman). These experts are selected to ensure diversity in terms of academic discipline, geographical location, and gender. Each masterclass will be structured as follows: (1) key research questions and current research approaches in the specific discipline/topic (30 minutes); (2) case study building on a current research project (30 minutes); and (3) interaction (60 minutes). The online portion will conclude with the presentation of a social justice theory, and instructions for how to prepare for the in-person portion (Tol). In preparation for the in-person portion, participants will be requested to prepare a 5-minute presentation in which they map how their own dissertation topic fits with the social justice theory (e.g., outlines which dimensions of wellbeing are addressed, which interactions between dimensions of wellbeing are of focus, and which social and economic background conditions influence these dimensions of wellbeing). In person: The in-person portion will be held on a quiet location on Møn, Denmark to allow for focused interaction. On Day 1, participants will be asked to present their 5-minute presentations. Following these 5-minute presentations, participants will be matched to form complementary teams of 3 or 4 people, who have dissertation topics with an overlap in focus, but with differences in expertise (e.g., someone conducting a feasibility evaluation study of a novel trauma-focused psychotherapeutic intervention for conflict-affected children can be matched with someone focused on understanding the impact of substance abuse on family relations). Over Days 2 and 3, these teams will explore synergies and complementarity in the team members’ knowledge to understand how each team member can push the disciplinary boundaries of their own research topics (either within the dissertation period, or in postdoctoral careers). This process will be facilitated through a mix of guided ‘walk and talk’ meetings, and workshops. Every day, each team will check in with one of the facilitators to gauge progress and roadblocks, and receive facilitator feedback. On the last day, participants will present a revised version of their initial 5-minute presentations, with revisions based on the smaller group work. Participants will discuss plans for future engagement and networking with other participants, and the in-person portion will close. Keywords: Global mental health, social determinants of mental health, wellbeing, interdisciplinary collaboration, social justice Participants The course will be most useful for PhD students from a range of scientific disciplines, who currently conduct, or who are prearing to conduct, research in the area of mental health and wellbeing of people affected by hardship and structural adversities. These can be communities in high-income countries (e.g., refugees and other migrants, sexual minorities, other marginalized populations in Europe and other high-income countries), and low- and middle-income countries (e.g., populations affected by armed conflict, trafficking, living in informal settlements, social marginalization, stigma, etc in the 'Global South'). Because of our interest in interdisciplinary dialogue, there are no requirements in terms of prior coursework. Relevance to graduate programmes The course is relevant to PhD students from the following graduate programmes at the Graduate School of Health and Medical Sciences, UCPH: Public Health and Epidemiology Medicine, Culture and Society Psychiatry Language English Form The course will have two parts: (1) an online series of masterclasses (8 weekly online sessions), (2) 4-days in-person, interactive, facilitated, group work Course director Wietse A. Tol, Professor, wietse.tol@sund.ku.dk Teachers Assoc Prof. Ragnhild Dybdahl (Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway; University of Bergen, Norway) Prof. Ingunn Marie Stadskleiv Engebretsen (University of Bergen, Norway) Prof. Lars Lien (University of Oslo, Norway) Prof. Valerie de Marinis (Umeå University, Sweden) Assoc Prof. Maria Nordendahl (Umeå University, Sweden) Dates 19 September- 24 November, starting 2022 Course location - Online: Weekly on Thursdays from 22 September 2022 to 17 November 2022, at 13.00-15.00, - Møn: In-person: 4 days from Monday 21 November 2022 to Thursday 24 November 2022, at 09.00-16.00, Address: TEATER MØN & ASTERIONS HUS Klintholm Havnevej 52 4791 Borre Registration Please register before 04 September 2022 Seats to PhD students from other Danish universities will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis and according to the applicable rules. Applications from other participants will be considered after the last day of enrolment. Note: All applicants are asked to submit invoice details in case of no-show, late cancellation or obligation to pay the course fee (typically non-PhD students). If you are a PhD student, your participation in the course must be in agreement with your principal supervisor.

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