TITLE:
Identifying and Prioritizing the Research Needs Related to Mental Health in Gaza Strip, Palestine
AUTHORS:
Nasser Ibrahim Abu-El-Noor, Yousef Ibrahim Aljeesh
KEYWORDS:
Research Needs, Research Priorities, Mental Health, Focus Group, Gaza Strip
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Psychiatry,
Vol.5 No.1,
December
23,
2014
ABSTRACT: Background: An important
function of research is to identify community needs in certain fields. As
mental health is a vital issue to us, identifying and prioritizing mental
health needs is important to policy makers to help them in setting goals for
different programs that meet the needs of a specific community in a certain
health area. Purpose: To identify the health research needs in the field ofmental health in Gaza Strip,
Palestine. Design and Methods: The design was a qualitative design usingfocus group, need assessment and
non-structured interview for data collection. Participants: Participants
included three focus groups. First group consisted of students enrolled in a
master programof community
mental health nursing; second group included seven faculty members who were
specialistsin mental health; and
third group included six key persons from the ministry of health andthe chair of community mental health
program in WHO at Gaza Strip. Results: Results of this qualitativestudy revealed several themes that
emerged from the thematic analysis. Many health researchneeds were identified by participants.
These needs included the following topics: stigma, family integration,
aggression of children born to substance-abuse fathers, post-partum depression,
counseling, talking therapy in clinical practice, behavioral problems,
tramadole abuse, risk factors leadingto drug dependence, autism, exploring the
role of religion in mental health, and Wellness Recovery Action Plan.
Implication for Practice: Well designed studies will help to identify and
prioritize the health needs for a specific community. Identifying the needs
related to community mental healthis
one of the first steps to help in pushing these needs into the agenda of health
policy makers, who then will work to set goals and design policies and programs
that aiming to meet the needs of the community, which hopefully will produce a
community with less mental health problems.