African Mental Health Research Initiative (AMARI) PhD fellow at the CPMH, Fadia Gamieldien, delivered her PhD protocol at the Valkenberg Education Centre on 4 September 2018.
An occupational therapist by profession, Fadia completed both her undergraduate (BSc in Occupational Therapy) and post graduate (Masters in Occupational Therapy) degrees at the University of Cape Town (UCT).
Her PhD is focusing on exploring recovery focused interventions for men with severe mental illness in South Africa.
Mental, neurological and substance use disorders contribute significantly to the global burden of disease. This has serious consequences for individuals, their families and communities. In South Africa there is inadequate mental healthcare provided across the levels of health care despite the deinstitutionalisation process. This treatment gap creates the opportunity to develop recovery focused interventions. Recovery has mostly been understood clinically where the emphasis is on the alleviation of symptoms. Reconceptualising recovery as a personal, nonlinear, cyclical journey with services across the continuum of care may allow service providers to offer recovery focused interventions.
Fadia’s study aims to understand the recovery needs of men with a severe mental illness so as to inform the development of a recovery-focused measure for use in the South African context.
