Introduction Evidence Frameworks Assessment Design Implementation MEAL Sector Pull-outs
Design
It is important to engage youth in the design process (selecting interventions, project locations, and key partners), as they can ensure interventions are relevant, acceptable, effective, and responsive to their needs. This section includes criteria for selecting evidence-based interventions, discussions of what works in MHPSS program design, and resources.
Selecting Evidence-based Interventions
When designing your program, you can select interventions from among those discussed in the sector pull-outs or resources linked in the Toolkit. Regardless of how you select the intervention(s), be prepared to justify the selected intervention using the following criteria, which appear in descending order of importance:
- 1. There is evidence this intervention works for the stated problems with the identified population.
- 2. There is evidence this intervention works for the same or similar problems with similar populations.
- 3. There is evidence somewhere in the world that this intervention works for these or similar problems.
- 4. There is no direct evidence, but existing evidence indirectly supports the intervention’s theory of change (promising).
See the ‘What Works in MHPSS Programming’ and ‘Promising Approaches in MHPSS’ sections for more evidence that will help you assess interventions against these criteria.
MHPSS program designs should include both clinical and non-clinical components. Mental health care should be made available alongside psychosocial support activities. This combination ensures that youth participants with varying needs can access the necessary levels of care.
Click here for age-related development considerations in program design.
Evidence-based Recommendations for MHPSS Programming
The following are recommendations for MHPSS programming grounded in the evidence base. These common components of MHPSS interventions are included in the desk review and/or highlighted in the sector pull-outs.
- Integrate MHPSS interventions into school systems
- Apply a social-ecology approach
- Focus on group-based and/or community-based interventions
- Integrate two or more dimensions of well-being
- Include mentoring and coaching with integrated case management
- Provide clinical supervision for staff
- Hire local staff to design and deliver MHPSS services
Click here to view examples of promising MHPSS approaches and programs.
Click here to view a page on What Works in MHPSS.
Budgeting for MHPSS Interventions
At a minimum, programs should ensure that the following elements are reflected in program budgets:
Staff costs: Staff costs include supervision, in-service training, and training activities. Also keep in mind the staff-to-beneficiary ratios, which will depend on the intervention. Generally, you will have higher cost-per-beneficiary for individual psychological interventions than group-based interventions. You will also have higher per-beneficiary costs during the staff training period.
- Case management services
- Individual and group psychological interventions
Assessments: Additional cost considerations related to assessments include the development and local testing of instruments or tools and training materials for assessment team members.
Transportation costs: This can include the cost of staff travel to beneficiary homes or project sites, as well as the cost of transporting beneficiaries to and from project sites.
Translation services: High-quality translation is essential when contextualizing interventions and associated tools for the program.
Intervention adaptation: Interventions will need to be adapted to the local context (as informed by the assessment), so resources should be budgeted for this.
MHPSS Design Tools
The following resources can help as you design programs and select interventions:
- WHO Mental Health Gap Action Program (mhGAP):
- Restoring Hope and Dignity: Manual for Group Counseling, Center for Victims of Torture
- BelSalameh: The MHPSS Training Pack/The Mental Health Manual
- International Medical Corps Toolkit for the Integration of Mental Health into General Health Care in Humanitarian Settings
- Caring for the Caregivers
- A Hopeful, Healthy and Happy Living Toolkit
- IOM Community Based MHPSS Manual
- USAID’s YouthPower Action Youth Engagement Training
- Global Framework on Transferable Skills
- Social-Emotional Learning in USAID Basic Education Programs: How-to Note: This How-To-Note
Evidence Based Interventions for LMICs
- USAID MHPSS Database and Database Summary
- Common Elements Treatment Approach (CETA)
- Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT)
- Compendium of Resources
- Problem Management Plus (PM+) and Group Problem Management Plus (PM+)
- Social and Emotional Learning and Soft Skills Online Learning Module
- Best Practices on Effective SEL/Soft Skills Interventions in Distance Learning
Click here for Do No Harm considerations in the design phase.