Developing an mHealth intervention to strengthen the community mental health system in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in Peru

The COVID-19 pandemic and the mandatory social distancing have made visible the challenges the Peruvian health system faces to provide remote care. People with mental disorders are particularly vulnerable in this context, due to the impact of the pandemic on their health, as well as the limitations in accessing services. As a result, the Ministry of Health in Peru published guidelines to providing mental health care through telemedicine. In this context, which is simultaneously a great challenge and opportunity for the community mental health system in Peru, we proposed a two-year project with the following objectives: (1) To assess the impact of the pandemic on the community mental health system in Peru, (2) To identify the strategies implemented to preserve the provision of mental health care during the pandemic and assess, using the Learning Health Systems framework, the readiness to deliver remote mental care, (3) To co-design and evaluate the performance of an mHealth intervention to deliver remote care within the community mental health system in Peru. To achieve this, the study comprises 3 phases: (1) the formative phase, centered around the first two aims, will involve the review of local and international guidelines and evidence produced during the pandemic and a qualitative study with stakeholders. (2) The intervention development phase to co-design along with stakeholders the mHealth intervention based on the formative phase. Finally, (3) the pilot of our intervention, assessing implementation and clinical outcomes. The pilot will recruit 60 participants (30 users and 30 relatives) who will receive the intervention delivered by 15 health providers. Recruitment will take place at 3 Community Mental Health Centers. Data will be collected at 3 different time points: (i) before starting, (ii) during and (iii) after finishing the intervention, through questionnaires, in-depth interviews, as well as data generated through the mHealth platform.