Competency-based training and supervision: development of the WHO-UNICEF Ensuring Quality in Psychosocial and Mental Health Care (EQUIP) initiative

Brandon A Kohrt; Gloria A Pedersen; Alison Schafer; Kenneth Carswell; Fiamma Rupp; Mark J D Jordans; Elise West; Josephine Akellot; Pamela Y Collins; Carmen Contreras; Jerome T Galea; Frezgi Gebrekristos; Muthoni Mathai; Kristina Metz; Naser Morina; Mwamba Mwila Mwenge; Frederik Steen; Ann Willhoite; Mark van Ommeren; James Underhill; EQUIP Consortium

doi:10.1016/S2215-0366(24)00183-4

Competency-based training and supervision: development of the WHO-UNICEF Ensuring Quality in Psychosocial and Mental Health Care (EQUIP) initiative

Lancet Psychiatry. 2024 Sep 6:S2215-0366(24)00183-4. doi: 10.1016/S2215-0366(24)00183-4. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Brandon A Kohrt¹, Gloria A Pedersen², Alison Schafer³, Kenneth Carswell³, Fiamma Rupp⁴, Mark J D Jordans⁵, Elise West⁶, Josephine Akellot⁷, Pamela Y Collins⁸, Carmen Contreras⁹, Jerome T Galea¹⁰, Frezgi Gebrekristos¹¹, Muthoni Mathai¹², Kristina Metz⁸, Naser Morina¹³, Mwamba Mwila Mwenge¹⁴, Frederik Steen¹⁵, Ann Willhoite⁴, Mark van Ommeren³, James Underhill³; EQUIP Consortium

Affiliations

¹ Center for Global Mental Health Equity, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA. Electronic address: [email protected].
² Center for Global Mental Health Equity, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA.
³ Department of Mental Health, Brain Health, and Substance Use, WHO, Geneva, Switzerland.
⁴ Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Team, Child Protection, UNICEF, New York, NY, USA.
⁵ Amsterdam Institute of Social Science Research, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands; Center for Global Mental Health, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK; Research and Development Department, War Child Alliance, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
⁶ SystemSeed, Dover, DE, USA.
⁷ HealthRight, Kampala, Uganda; Vrjie University, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
⁸ Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
⁹ Socios En Salud, Lima, Perú; School of Social Work, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA.
¹⁰ School of Social Work, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA.
¹¹ Center for Victims of Torture, Tigray, Ethiopia.
¹² University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya.
¹³ University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
¹⁴ Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia.
¹⁵ Research and Development Department, War Child Alliance, Amsterdam, Netherlands.

PMID: 39250925
DOI: 10.1016/S2215-0366(24)00183-4

Abstract

Globally, there has not been a standardised approach to ensure that the growing number of people who are not licensed clinicians but are delivering psychological interventions and mental health services have the competencies to deliver those interventions and services safely. Therefore, WHO and UNICEF developed Ensuring Quality in Psychosocial and Mental Health Care (EQUIP). EQUIP is a free resource with a digital platform that can be used to guide competency assessment. We describe EQUIP's 5-year development (2018-23) and the rationale supporting its contents and use. Development phases included establishing consensus for competency-based strategies; selecting foundational competencies; evaluating feasibility of assessments, role plays, and technology; piloting EQUIP when training non-specialists; and public dissemination and ongoing adaptations to increase scalability. From the public launch in March, 2022, through to March, 2024, EQUIP's digital platform has been used in 794 training programmes in 36 countries with 3760 trainees resulting in 10 001 competency assessments.

Publication types

Review