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The ‘Developing and evaluating an adapted behavioural activation intervention for depression and diabetes in South Asia (DiaDeM)’ trial investigates a psychological intervention, behavioural activation (BA), on people with both diabetes and depression in Bangladesh and Pakistan. This study aimed to aid the intervention and trial design.
This was a modelling study using microsimulation to assess the intervention’s cost-effectiveness. Diabetes was modelled using the UK Prospective Diabetes Study model based on Pakistani patients and depression was modelled using Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) trajectories allowing for multiple depressive episodes. It was assumed that diabetes-related adverse events increased depression recurrence, while depression impacted haemoglobin A1c, increasing diabetes-related events. The model estimated (1) maximum cost of BA which would be cost-effective (headroom analysis) to inform intervention design, and (2) value of reducing uncertainty around different measures (value of information analysis) to prioritise data collection in the DiaDeM study.
Analysis was conducted from a Pakistani healthcare perspective over a lifetime with costs and outcomes discounted at 3%.
BA plus usual care was compared against usual care. BA involved six sessions by a trained (non-mental health) facilitator. The usual care comparator was the prevailing mix of pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments used in Pakistan.
The primary outcome was disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs). Secondary outcomes included life years, healthcare costs and the rate of depression and diabetes-related events.
Over their lifetime, individuals receiving BA plus usual care avoid 3.2 (95% credible interval: 2.7 to 3.8) years of mild depression and experience fewer diabetes-related events. BA plus usual care resulted in an additional 0.27 (0.03 to 0.52) life years, 0.98 (0.45 to 1.86) DALYs averted and had incremental healthcare costs of –US$97 (–US$517 to US$142), excluding BA costs. The maximum cost per BA course at which was cost-effective is US$83 (US$9 to US$214). Value of information analysis found the most important measures to include in the trial are the impact of depression on diabetes and PHQ-9 over time.
This is the first model to jointly model depression and diabetes for South Asia and uses novel methods to reflect the diseases and inform intervention and trial design. This evidence has helped to inform the design of the DiaDeM intervention and the trial to evaluate it.
DiaDeM trial: ISRCTN40885204, DOI: ; pre-results, DOI:
Chronic health conditions are the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide, with a disproportionately high burden in low-income and middle-income countries. The burden arising from these conditions presents immense challenges to countries with dysfunctional public healthcare systems, such as South Africa. This necessitates patients to have a good understanding of the conditions and optimal self-management approaches. We explored patients’ understanding of chronic health conditions and self-management practices, including self-monitoring, in the rural South African community of Agincourt in the subdistrict of Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga Province.
We randomly selected patients receiving routine care for chronic health conditions in primary healthcare facilities who were linked to the Agincourt Health and Demographic Surveillance System to participate in focus group discussions. Six focus groups (three with men and three with women) were conducted, with 17 male and 19 female participants (n=35) living with different chronic health conditions. Data were collected using body mapping exercises and semistructured focus group discussions facilitated by two experienced qualitative research assistants. An inclusive thematic approach was used for analysis.
Participants identified most chronic health conditions and their progression. Participants expressed that some consequences of chronic health conditions were unavoidable and some were attributed to medications. Three themes emerged on the management of chronic health conditions: (1) individual-level management, where participants actively changed or managed lifestyle factors associated with the conditions; (2) clinic-level management and support, where participants believed that following instructions from healthcare providers facilitates better management of their condition(s); and (3) prevention and screening, to prevent disease progression and development of complications. Participants also highlighted the role of religion in the control of chronic disease risk factors and traditional treatments for uncommon conditions such as epilepsy. Costs associated with lifestyle changes and equipment to manage and monitor health were highlighted as barriers to self-management of chronic health conditions.
Our findings contribute to emerging research on chronic health conditions and self-management approaches. Participants in our study demonstrated a good understanding of various chronic health conditions but lacked knowledge of self-management practices and faced barriers to self-management. There is a need for further studies on self-management of chronic health conditions, including self-monitoring among patients in rural sub-Saharan settings.
Research indicates the effectiveness of participatory interventions to address rapid rises in type 2 diabetes in low-income countries. Understanding their transferability to different contexts is a priority. We aimed to analyse how the COVID-19 post-lockdown context and adjustments to a participatory learning and action intervention affected theorised mechanisms of effect in rural Bangladesh and to examine the broader implications of this context and intervention adjustments for developing optimal contexts for participatory interventions.
Mixed methods using longitudinal qualitative and quantitative observation data, focus group discussions and interviews with group and community members and project personnel. We used descriptive content analysis, guided by realist evaluation research questions about context, implementation and mechanisms. We used team reflection to enhance the rigour of our analysis.
Cluster-randomised trial in Alfadanga upazila, Faridpur district, in the central region of Bangladesh. The intervention was implemented between January 2020 and December 2022, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Participatory group members, community members and project personnel (n=32). Structured observations of participatory groups (n=1820) and unstructured observations of groups and their environments (n=15).
Participatory learning and action community groups of men and women implemented by community-based facilitators.
Due to COVID-19, the participatory learning and action (PLA) intervention was not implemented as planned, which had major effects on the time available to develop the intervention with communities. Communities learnt about diabetes and were motivated to address its causes at an individual level, but community action was a more challenging mechanism to trigger. The post-pandemic context made it difficult to build community rapport, and strategies to engage communities through home visits were challenging. Communities’ prior negative experience in working together and in working with non-governmental organisations led to low community cohesion and low motivation to address diabetes collectively. This also resulted in expectations that the implementing organisation would implement community actions and incentivise attendance at meetings. This misalignment of expectations further disabled relationship building, and community strategies addressing the social causes of diabetes were largely not enacted.
PLA has optimal effects when time is available to build trust and social cohesion. These are contextual elements and mechanisms that need to be activated to enable critical reflection and community action to develop an enabling environment to address type 2 diabetes.
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