Researchers at Makerere University and United States-based universities of Kennesaw State and Georgia State have embarked on a new $3.3million study to examine whether giving young women vocational and entrepreneurship skills can maintain them in a good mental health.
In the five-year study dubbed TOPOWA project, Dr. Monica Swahn an epidemiologist and professor at Kennesaw State University says they will among others test saliva samples and monitor sleep patterns among the over 300 participants who will be isolated at three sites in the slums of Bwaise, Bbanda, and Makindye.
Swahn who is also the Principal Investigator says in terms of mental health issues, they will be checking for depression, suicidality, anxiety disorders in addition to alcohol use and substance and that participants will be followed and trained on beauty and hairdressing.
This study comes at a time of wide mental breakdown cries arising from the disruptions caused by interventions undertaken to control the spread of COVID-19.
Dr. Catherine Abbo, a psychiatry professional at Makerere University School of Public Health who is a co– investigator on the study says currently clinicians are experiencing a surge in cases, especially depression which they partly associate with violence during the lockdown and loss of income. Of every five people they get, she says one presents with a mental health problem.
She said this study comes in handy and that the approach they are taking using both scientific and social modalities of generating evidence will likely give them an accurate picture of what exactly is happening since the area of mental health has not been well researched.
She says, even slum women who don’t show any symptoms will be assessed using methods such as wearable hand devices which haven’t been used in the country before.
Commenting about the new study, Rogers Kasirye, the Executive Director Uganda Youth Development Link (UYDEL) that has provided study sites said that they are increasingly seeing in their nine safe places around the city young women battling with drug abuse problems and that after lockdown a number of their residents kept complaining of not being able to sleep at night.
He says that if evidence finally shows that skilling women can help them improve their mental health, this will be easily translated and adopted elsewhere in the country since the push currently is for economic empowerment with new programs such as the parish development model.
He says providing cash to troubled women without working on their mental health doesn’t offer sustainable solutions to their problems.
The study is funded by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) at $3.3million approximately12billion Shillings.
