Mental health and disability in Cambodia is the focus of attention for an Exceed Research Network (ERN) consortium. The partnership – involving researchers and practitioners from Exceed Worldwide, Queen’s University Belfast, Jönköping University Sweden, Royal University of Phnom Penh and Trinity College Dublin – has worked in this area for several years.

After completing a pilot project, led by Queen’s University Belfast, a second, larger project began in 2022. Led by Jönköping University and funded by the Swedish Research Council, this three-year project has four elements:

Developing a culturally-appropriate instrument to identify and assess mental health issues
Data collection from Exceed patients, to identify people with mental health issues
Training and building the capacity of Exceed prosthetic and orthotic clinicians to assess patients and deliver mental health interventions.
Delivering a mental health intervention – people with a moderate condition are referred support groups, while with a more serious condition are referred to other services

The first year of the current project focused on translation and cultural adaptation, to develop an intervention instrument specifically for Cambodia. This was a careful, but essential, process and the instrument has been piloted and is ready for use. In 2023 the focus moves to practical research, using the culturally-adapted mental health instrument to identify patients with mental health challenges and deliver an intervention.

A paper from the pilot ERN mental health study in Cambodia, led by Queen’s University Belfast has been published in International Journal of Equity in Health. To see this paper and learn more about mental health issues among people with physical disabilities in Cambodia click here.