Piloting a mental health training programme for community health workers in South Africa: an exploration of changes in knowledge, confidence and attitudes

Background There is a shortage of trained mental health workers in spite of the significant contribution of psychiatric disorders to the global disease burden. Task shifting, through the delegation of health care tasks to less specialised health workers such as community health workers (CHWs), is a promising approach to address the human resource shortage. CHWs in the Western Cape province of South Africa provide comprehensive chronic support which includes that for mental illness, but have thus far not received standardized mental health training. It is unknown whether a structured mental health training programme would be acceptable and feasible, and result improved knowledge, confidence and attitudes amongst CHWs.